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AUTOBIO GR APHY 



O^ THE 



V 



REY. SAMUEL Ht TUMER, D.D., 



LATE 



PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LEARNING AND THE 
INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE 



IN THE 



GENERAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE PROTESTANT 

EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 

OF AMERICA. 



V- / -x 



NEW-YORK: 1^ 
A. D. F. RANDOLPH, 683 BROADWAY. 

1863. 



Tin ^-^ 



00]SrTEl!5'TS. 



PREFACE, . . ix 

CHAPTER I. 

Design of the Writer — Parentage — Early Associates — Studies — 
College Course — Choice of a Profession — ^Visit to the Rev. Dr. 
Feltus — Its Efiect upon his Mind — He becomes a Communi- 
cant in St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, under the ministry of 
Dr. Pilmore — Influence of Religious Books — Studies for the 
Ministry under Bishop White — Text-books Employed — Adopts 
the Views of Stillingfleet, Hooker and White in regard to 
Church Polity — Avidity in Study — Mistakes Corrected — He- 
brew and Greek Studies, . . . .. .9-33 

CHAPTER II. 

Ordination — Revisits Dr. Feltus — Succeeds the Rev. Wm. H, Wil- 
mer in Chestertown, Maryland — First Sermon there — Letter 
from Judge Chambers respecting the " I. U. Church " — Cha- 
racter and Extent of his Labors — The Haunted House — Pa- 
rochial Visiting — Labors among the Blacks — Weekly Lec- 
tures — Sermon- Writing — Theological, Ecclesiastical, and Bibli- 
cal Studies — Latin and Greek Classics, and Hebrew Language 
—-Best Mode of Learning Ancient Languages— Important 
Principle in the Composition of Sermons — Pioneer in the 
Sunday-School Work — Election of Bishop Kemp — War with 
England— Fight near Chestertown, . . . 34-56 



IV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

Pernicious Effects of Climate and Slavery — He is offered a Pro- 
fessorship at Annapolis — Leaves Chestertown — Call to Ger- 
mantown, Pa. — St. Ann's, Brooklyn — Elizabeth, New-Jersey 
— Rev. Dr. Bowen — Grace Church, Nevr-York — Dr. Jarvis — 
Return to Philadelphia — Visits Chestertown, Washington, and 
various places in Virginia, returning by Central Pennsylvania — 
His Mother's Death — Her Character — Historical and Theologi- 
cal Studies — Labors in Philadelphia — Trinity Church the Re- 
sult — Preached the Opening Sermon, . . . 57-69 

CHAPTER IV. 

Appointed Superintendent of the Theological School in Phila- 
delphia — ^Bishop Alonzo Potter his first Pupil — Translation of 
"Bochart's Phaleg" — A General Theological Seminary Pro- 
posed in the General Convention — Measures Taken for its Es- 
tablishment — History of its Formation and Organization — 
Mr. Turner Elected Professor of " Historic Theology " — 
Charged Temporarily with the Duties of the Professor of Sys- 
tematic Theology — Dr. C. C. Moore's Gift to the Seminary — 
Rev. Dr. Gadsden's "Statement for the Seminary" — South- 
Carolina its Originator — The Error of the Bishop of Oxford in 
ascribing it to the Influence of Bishop Hobart — First Stu- 
dents in the Seminary — Professor Turner's Course of Instruc- 
tion, 70-85 

CHAPTER V. 

Indifference of Bishop Hobart and leading New -York Clergy- 
men to the Seminary — Proof of Want of Interest — Difficult- 
ies with Professor Jarvis — Professor Turner's Views on certain 
points of Theology not- in Harmony with those of Bishop Ho- 
bart — The Seminary removed to. New-Haven — Bishop Brown- 
ell's Remarks in regard to it — The Seminary organized on a 
New Plan — Open to Students of all Religious Denominations — 
Incidents of the Summer's Vacation— Introductory Discourse 
at New -Haven — Varied and Pleasant Duties in the Semi- 



CONTENTS. V 

nary — ^Its Patrons and Friends — His Father's Death — Sketch 
of his Life, 86-111 

CHAPTER VI. 

^ Diocesan Theological School established in New- York, at the 
Instance of Bishop Hobart — Jacob Sherred's Legacy — A Spe- 
cial General Convention called to consider it — The Seminary 
restored to New- York — United with the Diocesan School under 
a New Organization— Heorganization of the Seminary — First 
Critical Publication — South-Carolina Trustees suggest a Semi- 
nary-Building — ^Bishop White's Remarks on laying the Corner- 
stone — Professor Turner's Marriage — Progress and Character 
of the Seminary Buildings — Study of the French and German 
Languages — Revision of our Church Psalmody and Hymns — 
Translation of "Jahn's Introduction," with Notes — Birth of 
his First Child — EstabUshment of Public Worship at the 
Seminary — Formation of a Sunday-School — St. Peter's Church 
grows out of these Labors — Studies in Ancient and Modern 
Languages, and in Rabbinical Writings — Dr. Nordheimer, 

112-132 
CHAPTER VIL 

Clerical Association in New-York — Object of it — Constitution 
— Bishop Hobart's Attack upon it — Dr. Turner's Reply — 
The Course pursued by the Members — Erroneous Impres- 
sions — Essays, etc., in Biblical Literature, . . 133-168 

CHAPTER VIIL 

Elected Professor of Hebrew Language in Columbia College — 
Lectures in the College Chapel — Their Publication — Discour- 
agements — Death of his Daughter — Translation and Pub- 
lication of Professor Planck's Introduction to Theological 
Knowledge, with Notes — Birth of his first Son — Peter G. 
Stuyvesant's Endowment of a Professorship in the Semina- 
ry — Death of Mrs. Turner — Publication of " Companion to 
the Book of Genesis" — Object of the Work — Criticisms of two 
Church Papers, 169-183 



^ 



VI CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

History of the Seminary — New-York City an Unfavorable Loca- 
tion — Effects of the Doctrines of the Oxford Tracts and their 
kindred Usages — Conflicting Views _ with regard to them — 
Suggestion of the Examining Committee — Dissent of Drs. 
Anthon and Smith, in the Committee — Professor Turner's 
Reply to the Implied Censure — The true Place and Value of 
the Early Fathers in the Exposition of Scripture — ^A Proposi- 
tion to the Trustees — Resolutions of the South-Carolina Con- 
vention — Unfavorable Rumors in regard to the Seminary — 
Report of the South-Carolina Committee — Singular Questions 
propounded to the Faculty — Episcopal Visitation of the Semi- 
nary — Professor Turner's Answers — Communication from 
Bishop Mcllvaine^— Christmas Novelties — Apostasies to Rome 

— Professor Turner's Resistance to Novelties — The Attempt 
of "The Churchman" to Ridicule his Published Statement of 
Facts — " Records of Councils" — Its Ignorance and Indecency 

— Resolutions of the Visiting Bishops — The Real Value of 
their Opinion — Romanism among the Students — Secret Plans 
for Propagating it — Action of the Faculty — Expulsions from 
the Seminary — The Expelled Students Ordained in New- York, 
North-Carolina and Maryland — Further Apostasies to Rome 
— ^Influences Outside of the Seminary — The Errors and Cant 
Phrases of the Times — Characters most easily led astray — 
The Responsibility of those who Recommend Candidates for 
Orders — Resignation of Professors Wilson and Moore — Pro- 
fessor Ogilby's Death — Appointment of Professor Johnson 
and Mahan, , 184-213 

CHAPTER X. 

Serious Personal Injury — Record of Publications — " Essay on our 
Lord's Discourse at Capernaum" — "Biographical Notices of 
Jewish Rabbis" — Dr. Murdock's opinion of the "Work — " Spir- 
itual Things Compared with Spiritual" — Reply to Strictures 
upon the Publication — Two Discourses on the Rule of Faith — 
A Volume on Prophecy — The Epistle to the Hebrews in Greek 



CONTENTS. VU 

and English — The Epistle to the Romans in Greek and Eng- 
lish—The Epistle to the Ephesians in Greek and English — The 
Epistle to the Galatians in Greek and English, . 214r-234 

CHAPTER XI. 

Plain-Song in the Seminary — ^Mr. Hopkins — Pastoral Care of 
the Students — The American Bible Society— His Relation 
to it — The Standard Bible — The Fortieth Anniversary of his 
Professorship — Sketch of Dr. Wilson — General Review, 

235-266 
CHAPTER XII. 

EDITORIAL CONCLUSION. 

Death — Funeral — Bishop Potter's Address — Notices of the Press 
— Resolution of various Committees, etc., . . 267-292 



PEEFACE. 



The following autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Turner 
does not contain all the important events of his life, 
much less does it present the striking features of his 
character. • As a memoir, a delineation of the whole 
man, or as a history, it is incomplete. 

The main design of the writer was, to leave for his 
family, a memorial of the principles which governed his 
conduct, and of those events which would be especially 
interesting to them ; and to furnish an authentic record 
of such facts connected with his official and public life 
as he deemed particularly important to the truth of 
history, the cause of the Gospel and of sacred learning. 

The work of the editor has been limited to the break- 
ing up of the narrative into chapters, preparing suitable 
headings, appending a few pages at the conclusion, and 
superintending the progress of the book through the 
press. 

For several years he has enjoyed the friendship of 
the lamented author, and regards it a special privilege 



X PBEFACE. 

and honor to be connected with the publication of this 
sketch of his life. 

May the illustrious example of one so gifted, quietly and 
unostentatiously prosecuting his arduous work, employ- 
ing with marked diligence and devotion the many talents 
committed to his trust, adhering through a protracted 
life so inflexibly to the "old paths" of truth, and, by 
his life and conversation, adorning the doctrine of God 
his Saviour, incite others, and especially those who, as 
learners, were privileged to sit at his feet, to follow 
him even as he followed Christ. 

!E. M. C* 

BrooMyn, May 6iA, 1863. 



ATJTOBIO GEAPHT 



07 THK 



REV. SAMUEL H. TURNER, D.D. 



CHAPTEE I. 

Design of the Writer — Parentage — ^Early Associates — Studies — 
College Course — Choice of a Profession — ^Visit to the Rev. Dr. 
Feltus — Its Effect upon his Mind — He becomes a Communi- 
cant in St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, under the ministry of 
D^. Pilmore — Influence of Religious Books — Studies for the 
Ministry under Bishop Wlajte — Text-books Employed — Adopts 
the Views of Stillingfleet, Hooker and White in regard to. 
Church PoUty — Avidity in Study — Mistakes Corrected — He- 
brew and Greek Studies. 

The following notice of some particulars of 
my life is committed to writing in the belief 
tliat my children will feel an interest in a brief 
sketch of their father's biography, however im- 
perfect, and in the hope that they will not fail 
to trace the hand of Divine Providence in di- 
recting and moulding apparently incidental cir- 
cumstances, so as to promote His own wise and 
1* 



10 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

benevolent purposes. With tlie exception of 
wliat peculiarly constitutes the Gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and is essentially connected 
with the plan of redemption through Him, the 
only Mediator, there is no principle more satis- 
factory, and in its influence on human character 
and action more practical, than that which re- 
cognizes the agency of God in all events of life, 
however seemingly unimportant. The exercise 
of a steady and habitual faith in this doctrine 
will enable a man to submit with acquiescence 
at least, if not with cheerfulness, to the dispen- 
sations of Heaven, and to trust the universal 
Euler even when His arrangements appear to be 
at variance with His general course of kindness, 
confident that the result will afford evidgice 
both of His wisdom and also of His benevo- 
lence. 

I was born on the twenty-third of January, 
, 1790, in the house of my father, the Rev. Joseph 
I Turner, No. 370 South Second Street, in the Dis- 
trict of Southwark, Philadelphia. My mother, 
whose name was Elizabeth Mason, was the 
daughter of a physician of Devonshire, England, 
of which country my father also was a native. 
The mansion was built by his uncle, Philip 
Hulbeart, who occupied it as his country-seat a 
long time before the revolutionary war. The 



KEY. DE. TUENER. 11 

gradual increase of the city soon brought the 
dwelling within the limits of regular streets, 
numerous houses, and a considerable popula- 
tion ; although, when I was a boy, there were 
extensive fields in the vicinity, some of which 
were under cultivation, and others, lying low, 
were covered with water, affording, in winter, 
fine skating-places. The house was solidly 
built of brick, and was occupied by the family 
for more than one hundred years. My father 
always retained a large space of ground in two 
divisions, which were respectively appropriated 
to flower and vegetable gardens. The cultiva- 
tion of these he superintended himself, an em- 
ployment which was a source of great gratifica- 
tion to him even in advanced age. His early veg- 
etables, fine fruit of various kinds, pai^ticularly 
cherries, and beautiful display of roses, and 
other flowers, were, in the beginning of sum- 
mer, a general attraction to the neighborhood. 
Among the earliest recollections of my child- 
hood are his faithful black dog. Bull, a necessary 
guard, especially during the long winter nights, 
and a sorrel horse. Jack, which for twenty years 
carried him in his chaise, to his country church- 
es, and was a well-trained and sagacious fa- 
vorite. 

I was the youngest of eight children, three 



12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

sons and five daughters. My eldest brother, 
after wliom I received my first name, died be- 
fore I was bom, and the other, named after his 
parents Joseph Mason, who was two and a half 
years older than myself, died at about the age 
of twenty-two. At the time of my birth my 
father was forty-eight years old. He died on 
the twenty- sixth of July, 1821, at the age of 
seventy-nine. 

Of the period of my childhood I have noth- 
ing of much consequence to relate. I remem- 
ber showing my copy-book to my father's old 
friend, the Rev. Dr. Blackwell, one summer 
afternoon, in 1796, and about the same time 
being called up in Mr. Little's school, that my 
father, who happened to make a visit there, 
might hear me read in the New Testament. 
The portion selected was the first part of the 
thirteenth chapter of St. Mark, and I well re- 
collect how strange and incomprehensible the 
statement in the second verse appeared to me. I 
could not see how " one stone" should " not be 
left upon another," and yet should "not be 
thrown down." I remember having been ill 
with the yellow fever in 1T98, when all our 
family except our parents suffered with the dis- 
ease. The only particulars which I can call to 
mind are, that the attack commenced at night, 



EEV. DE. TUKNER. 13 

with a violent chill and pains in the back and 
head, and that at some period of the sickness 
my father spoke to me about dying, and pre- 
paration for another world, from which I infer 
that I must have been seriously ill. A servant- 
girl died of the complaint in our house, also 
Mr. George Keppele, who within a year before 
had been married to my sister Ann. I men- 
tion as a very remarkable fact, that although 
our own family physician, Dr. Pfeiffer, a Ger- 
man of the Moravian Church, was too unwell 
to leave his house, my father being obliged to 
visit him daily and report our respective cases, 
and bring home his prescriptions, yet all his 
patients, with the exception of the servant 
before alluded to, recovered of that deadly 
distemper. Mr Keppele had the personal at- 
tendance of another physician. The doctor's 
son, who not long after became a medical stu- 
dent in Philadelphia, gave evidence of more 
than ordinary ability and industry, and would 
no doubt have become distinguished in his pro- 
fession had he not been cut off by an early 
death. 

My first Latin teacher was the Rev. John' 
Melancthon Bradford. He was a nephew of 
the venerable Dr. Ashbel Green, at that time 
a celebrated Presbyterian clergyman in Phila- 



14 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

delpiia, and afterwards President of Princeton 
College. He was also the father of Alexander 
W. Bradford, LL.D., the able jurist who is now 
Surrogate of New-York. He became a clergy- 
man of the Dutch Church, and settled in Al- 
bany. On his leaving the city I was put un- 
der the care of Mr. James Thompson, who two 
or three years afterwards became Professor of 
Languages in the University of Pennsylvania. 
He taught in the Quaker Academy in Fourth 
street near Chestnut, which at that time was 
one of the best Latin schools in the city. The 
whole time was devoted to the ancient lan- 
guages, except half an hour employed in writ- 
ing a copy and listening to a chapter in the 
Bible read by all the scholars in rotation. 
The morning was spent in reciting ; one lesson 
in Greek or Latin Grammar ; one in Csesar, 
Sallust, or Virgil, and I think after the study 
of Greek was begun, we had another in the 
Gospel of St. John, or Lucian. A single les- 
son in some one of these authors occupied the 
afternoon. The Academy was patronized by 
some of the best families. Dallas, now our 
minister at the Court of St. James, was one of 
its pupils. The late Thomas I. "Wharton, well 
known and esteemed as a highly respectable 
member of the Philadelphia bar, was one of 



REV. DR. TURNER. 15 

my class-mates. We entered tlie University of 
Pennsylvania in January, 1806, and graduated 
together on July twenty-third, 1807, when I was 
exactly seventeen and a half years old. Our 
whole collegiate period did not exceed eighteen 
months. The University was at that time in a 
very depressed condition. There were then 
but two classes, the Junior and the Senior. 
Although I entered the former at nearly its 
middle period, I had so far forgotten my arith- 
metic that I was obliged to begin with. reduc- 
tion or the rule of three. The course was ne- 
cessarily very imperfect, although the institu- 
tion commanded the services of some very able 
men, especially the literary and classical Dr. 
Andrews, Vice-Provost, and the elder Dr. 
Patterson, distinguished for his knowledge 
of mathematics and philosophy. The learn- 
ed John McDowell, BL.D., entered upon his 
duties as Provost only a few months before 
I left. He used to say that Bishop White and 
Dr. James Wilson were the two clergymen 
whom he habitually heard with satisfaction. 

Our mathematical studies comprehended the 
elements of algebra, the first four books of 
Euclid, plane and spherical trigonometry, sur- 
veying, gauging, and navigation. Some of the 
class, I think, learned conic .sections. I know 



16 /UTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

tliat I copied out the elements of this branch, . 
but never studied the subject. One member, 
Mr. Joseph Hall, son of a former Governor of . 
Delaware, who was decidedly head of the class, 
rose above us all into the regions of fluxions ; 
but I believe he soared alone in this high at- 
mosphere of mathematics. Chemistry, miner- 
alogy, and other similar branches, were entirely 
ignored. A slight course of mechanics, hy- 
draulics, hydrostatics, optics, and astronomy 
constituted the sum of our instruction in natu- 
ral philosophy. In moral, Beattie's Elements 
was the only text-book ; in history, the Abbe 
Millot ; in rhetoric and logic. Dr. Andrews's 
Compends. Our Latin reading embraced Hor- 
ace, Cicero's Orations and De Officiis, and two 
or three Satires of Juvenal. In Greek we read 
some Dialogues of Lucian, two books of the 
Cyropsedia, three of Homer, Epictetus, and 
some portions of Longinus. I never wrote a 
page of English composition either at school 
or college. The oration which I delivered at 
Commencement was furnished by a friend ; 
and about two weeks afterwards I had the 
gratification of seeing it in a periodical some 
three or four months old ! 

I left college without any determination as 
to my future course of life. I knew that my 



REV. DR. TURNER. 17 

parents were desirous that I stould devote 
myself to tlie ministry. But they never made 
use of any persuasion, or attempted to bias my 
mind towards tlie sacred profession. In early 
youth my thoughts and feelings were often 
under strong religious influence ; and I remem- 
ber, when a mere child, going into a small 
closet to pray. But I have no reason to be- 
lieve that these impressions were very deep 
or habitual in their influence. My deport- 
ment had always been morally correct, and I 
had a good deal of conscientiousness. But 
when the question of the choice of an occu- 
pation or profession came up for consideration, 
my mind wavered, and I became very unde- 
cided, I can not say that I felt any ardent, 
earnest desii*e to make known to others the 
Gospel, because of having myself experienced 
its blessings. In this doubtful state of mind, 
I was at one time strongly inclined to study 
medicine under the direction of Dr. Benjamin 
Rush, who had been for some years our family 
physician, and had repeatedly prescribed for 
frequent indispositions, to which in early life I 
was subject. Thad unfortunately become quite 
experienced in his ten or twenty grains' pre- 
scriptions of calomel and jalap, taken to re- 
move some trifling ailment, or in the sj)ring, 



18 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

when I was enjoying good health, to keep off 
the enemy who was supposed to be insidiously 
lurking in ambush. Happily I was not sub- 
jected to bleeding or cupping; though, from 
frequent observation, I became familiar enough 
with the former. 

While thus wavering in the choice of a 
profession, I accepted an invitation from a 
clerical friend of my father to spend a week 
with him at his parsonage in Swedesborough, 
New-Jersey. I found the Rev. Henry J. Fel- 
tus very kind and hospitable. He treated me 
like a younger brother, or rather like a son. 
And here I can not but say a few words in re- 
ference to this truly pious and good man, to 
whom I am greatly indebted. Mr. Feltus was 
a- kind-hearted and devoted pastor. It was 
evidently his great object to do good among 
the people of his charge. He well knew how 
to accommodate himself to their generally 
plain habits and mode of living, so as to make 
his association with them practically available 
to their spiritual good. He was exceedingly 
pleasant in his private intercourse, told a story 
admirably, and relished a good witticism as 
well as any man I ever knew. Although his 
early education had been imperfect, and his ac- 
quaintance with literature and science was lim- 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 19 

ited, yet lie had evidently read mucli, and ac- 
quired considerable information. In the pulpit 
he was at times quite eloquent — disposed, how- 
ever, to introduce occasionally some show of 
learning. His discourses were characterized 
by sdund Scriptural instruction, and an evident 
desire to impress religious truths upon the un- 
derstandings and hearts of his people. He was 
deservedly much respected and beloved. I be- 
came very intimate with, and greatly attached 
to him. I accompanied him on some of his pa- 
rochial visits. One occasion of this kind made 
a strong impression on my mind. Having 
made his personal preparations, in doing which 
it was his habit to be rather particularly atten- 
tive as to his dress and appearance, he took me 
into his study, and, after locking the door, kneel- 
ed down and offered a short prayer for divine 
aid and guidance. We rode to the houses of 
several of his parishioners, some of whom were 
hard-working, industrious poor ; and to all he 
had some religious counsel, or instruction, or 
exhortation to give, generally closing his pas- 
toral visit with a short and fervent prayer. 
The tendency of his mind seemed to be to de- 
pend on God and to ask His aid. On another 
occasion, a walk of a considerable distance 
having brought us into a deep and retired 



20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

wood, he suddenly stopped short and said, 
" Let us improve this scene ; " and kneeling 
down among the thick trees, where no eye of 
man was likely to observe us, he poured out a 
prayer to the "Father who seeth in secret." 
He was fond of, and slightly acquainted with, 
music. I spent a pleasant and profitable week 
with this excellent clergyman, and freely open- 
ed my mind to him respecting my uncertainty 
as to the profession I should choose. He did 
not advise me to form an immediate resolution 
to enter the sacred ministry, knowing that this 
ought to be the result of a conviction of duty 
arising out of a desire to make known the Gos- 
pel as the only method of salvation for sinners ; 
and, considering my youth and inexperience, 
his counsel was, to begin a course of theologi- 
cal reading, and to defer any determination in 
the matter to a subsequent period, when I 
should be better able than I was at that time 
to make a right decision. If this should not be 
in favor of entering upon the sacred office, the 
course of reading pursued would yet be useful, 
and I should still have sufficient time to make 
suitable preparation for another profession. On 
my return home I took his advice, and adopted 
the course recommended. 

During the following autumn my religious 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 21 

view3 and feelings became enlarged and deepen- 
ed. My convictions of man's natural sinfulness, 
of the need of a Redeemer to reconcile sinful 
man to Ms Maker, of a Divine agency to turn 
the heart to heavenly things, of self-devotion 
to God, ana a holy life, became stronger ; and 
I pursued my theological reading with a direct 
view to ultimate admission into the ministry of 
the Church. This state of mind was, in a con- 
siderable degree, promoted by the conversation 
and counsel of Mr. George Warner, who after- 
wards married my elder sister, the widow of 
Mr. Keppele. Mr. Warner's son, a married 
gentleman with three children, was residing in 
the neighborhood of Philadelphia, where he 
had gone for the benefit of country air adapted 
to his condition. He was gradually sinking in 
consumption, of which disease he died not long 
after. I accompanied Mr. Warner one morn- 
ing, I think in October, to the sick man's resi- 
dence, and for the first time partook with him^ 
of the holy communion, administered by the 
Rev. Mr. Feltus, of whom Mr. Warner had 
been an old friend and patron. Afterwards I 
became a communicant in St. Paul's Church, to 
which our family belonged — then under the 
charge of the Rev. Joseph Pilmore, D.D., who 
had succeeded Dr. Samuel Magaw as rector. 



22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

The work which was most effective, in the 
Providence of God, in opening and impressing 
my mind in reference to practical religion, was 
Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in 
the Soul. Few books have been^more exten- 
sively blessed to the conversion of the sinner 
and the edification of the Christian, than this 
unpretending, simple, and earnest production 
of one of the kindest, most intelligent, nseful, 
and holy men of modern times. To this work 
I must add, as one of the most deeply religious 
books ever published. Bishop Beveridge's Pri- 
vate Thoughts, This very practical treatise I 
found greatly beneficial ; and, indeed, it can 
hardly be too highly prized. It ought to be 
familiar to every Christian, and especially to 
every one who aspires to the sacred ministry of 
the Church. 

My theological studies were pursued under 
the direction of Bishop White, whom I regu- 
■ larly visited in his study, at first once in two 
weeks, and afterwards once a month, for up- 
wards of three years. The Bishop never sub- 
jected me to any examinations ; indeed, I 
do not recollect that he ever questioned me 
in reference to any theological point except 
at my examinations for orders. K the plan 
of stated recitations had been pursued with 



EEV. DR. TURNEB. 23 

some regularity, my studies would, no doubt, 
have been more thorougb and my knowledge 
more accurate. As it was, I read a great 
deal, but thought and studied little. To use 
common language, I crammed so fully that I 
had neither opportunity nor ability to digest 
any thing intellectually. Consequently, my 
conceptions of theology as a system were very 
vague and undefined, and my acquaintance 
with the several departments of divinity loose 
and imperfect. The candor of the good Bishop 
showed itself in one respect, very conspicu- 
ously, illustrating also his love of truth and his 
confidence that a search after it was best pro- 
moted, not by concealment of error, but by 
general and extended investigation of contro- 
verted points. If he recommended any one 
book in defense of doctrine or discipline, he 
did not hesitate to put into my hands some 
other defending an opposite view. Thus 
Campbell's Lectures on Ecclesiastical History 
were read in connection with Skinner's Truth 
and Order, and Lord King's Primitive Church 
along with Slater's Original Draft. After 
Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, and Potter on 
Church Government, with the controversial 
works of Hobart, Howe, Bowden, and Miller, 
he put into my hand, Stillingfleet's Irenicum. 



24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

And I shall never forget the remark which 
he then made : " A book much spoken against, 
but never answered."'^' 

I read somewhat extensively on the subject 
of Church polity. For a considerable time my 
mind was unsettled, and I studied the various 

* When a young man, I heard it said by some of our elderly and most 
distinguished clergymen, that Stillingfleet retracted in after-life the 
principles of this book. I never met with any one, however, who could 
tell me where this retraction was to be found, though I repeatedly made 
the inquiry. I can not believe that he ever retracted the fundamental 
principles of the book, which, indeed, are very like, and in a measure 
identical with those of Hooker. No doubt he changed his views on 
some of the details, and especially in what he says on the subject of 
ordination by presbyters. And probably the rumor above alluded to, 
had its origin in the following passages which occur in the author's 
preface to his Unreasonableness of Separation, quarto, London, 1682. 
When he published this work he was Dean of St. Paul's ; twenty years 
before, when the Irenicum made its appearance, he was rector of Sut- 
ton, in Bedfordshire. On a public occasion the Dean had preached a 
sermon on " the unreasonableness and mischief of the present separa- 
tion." This production became the occasion of a good deal of contro- 
versy, and, among other things, the preacher was charged with advocating 
view^ inconsistent with those which he had maintained in the Irenicum. 
In reply he makes the following acknowledgments implied or expressed : 
" Will you not allow a person who happened to write about these mat- 
ters when he was very young, in twenty years' time of the most busy 
and thoughtful part of his life, to see reason to alter his judgment ? 
But after all, where is it that he hath thus contradicted himself? Is it in 
the point of separation ? No," etc. *' But if any thing in the follow- 
ing treatise," that is, the work on Separation, " be found different from 
the sense of that book, I do entreat them to allow me that which I 
heartily wish to them, namely, that in twenty years' time we may arrive 
to such maturity of thought as to see reason to change our opinion of 
some things^ and I wish I had not cause to add of some persoois too." 
(Pp. Ixxii. Ixxvi.) But these passages afford very insufficient grounds for 
the statement that the author retracted the principles of his former work 



REV. DR. TURNER. 25 

works witli particular attention. The result of 
my examination was this, that diocesan Epis- 
copacy was of apostolic origin, instituted under 
divine guidance, and consequently jiwe divino. 
But whether this form of church government 
was divinely established in perpetuity, and 
intended to be necessary to the Church at all 
periods, so that the preservation of it becomes 
essential to its existence, or whether it were 
established as being best adapted to the apos- 
tolic age, so that, subsequently, changes might 
be introduced without destroying the validity 
of the ministry or its acts ; these appeared to 
be questions for private judgment, on which 
different views might allowably be entertained 
by different mjnds without affecting the sound- 
ness of their church views. The fact that the 
Jewish succession in the high priestly oince 
had been tampered with, and persons intro- 
duced into it who had no legal Mosaic claim, 
and yet that in our Lord's time the Hebrew 
Church was not regarded as nullified or mu- 
tilated thereby, nor the ecclesiastical authority 
of those who thus held office questioned by 
Him, but that on the contrary, He spoke of 
the Scribes and Pharisees as " sittino^ in Moses' 
seat," and therefore havino: a rig^htful claim to 
obedience, made a strong impression on me, 
2 



26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

and had no slight influence in enabling me to 
come to a decision. The principle defended 
against the Puritans by Hooker,* that even 
divinely established laws are not necessarily 
permanent, was that on which my mind ulti- 
mately rested. I saw no reason for abandon- 
ing Episcopacy, but on the contrary very 
strong ones for adhering to it. Yet I could 
not admit the conclusion that those who had 
done so, had thereby unchurched themselves, 
especially under circumstances where Episco- 
pacy could not readily be secured. 

I read, in manuscript, most of the Bishop's 
Calvinistic and Armenian controversy, which 
had not then been published. The reference 
in that work to Calvin's early^ view of the 
meaning of 1 Pet. 2:8," Whereunto also they 
were appointed," which he originally consid- 
ered as expressive of "the favorable circum- 
stances in which the Jews were placed for 
their reception of the Gospel," was suggested 
by me at that time. [N^ot long before, I had 
purchased at the sale of a portion of the li- 
brary of the Rev. Dr. Kunze, (a Lutheran 
clergyman, who had been professor of He- 
brew in Columbia College,) a copy of Ger- 
hard's Loci Theologici, where I found the pas- 

* Eccles. Polity, Book III. sections 9, 10/ 



EEV. DR. TURITER. 27 

sage to wMcL. the Bisliop refers, and pointed 
it out to him. 

During the period of nearly three and a 
half years which I spent in reading divinity 
under Bishop "White, attention was habitually 
given to the sacred Scriptures. I read Pat- 
rick, Stackhouse's History of the Bible, Whit- 
by, Doddridge's Expositor, Campbell on the 
Gospels, consulted Poole's Annotations and 
such other books as I had access to. Indeed, 
at one period of the course I got together all 
the commentators I could procure, had them 
opened and arrranged on a large table, and 
read one after the other with persevering in- 
dustry until I became tired and bewildered. 
The result w^s a confused jumble of informa- 
tion, often inconsistent, sometimes positively 
contradictory; and vague, indefinite, unsatis- 
factory notions of the meaning. I learned by 
experience that no clear perception of the 
oracles of God was attainable in this way. I 
was incompetent to form a judgment respect- 
ing the truth among diversified and opposing 
expositions, and the views of one respectable 
commentator were received as sufficiently ,„sat- 
isfactory until the conflicting views of the 
next in order suggested difficulties that weak- 
ened or destroyed the impressions which had 



28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

been made by the former. To whicli I add 
that in many cases none of them gave satisfac- 
tory expositions. With the principles of sa- 
cred criticism and interpretation I had no ac- 
quaintance. The idea of settling the true text 
of the. Bible by referring to written authori- 
ties of manuscripts, versions, and quotations, a 
thousand years or more older than the in- 
vention of printing, had never occurred to me. 
Of Mill, Wetstein, or Griesbach, I had never 
heard. Interpretation as a science was almost 
equally unknown, and when I felt difficulties 
in certain expositions maintained by orthodox 
annotators of reputation, or failed to get from 
them any clear instruction, I attributed this 
w^ant of satisfaction to my inability fally to 
comprehend the points in question, admitting 
the correctness and sufficiency of the exposi- 
tions as a matter of course, because they had 
the im/primatur of authority. Having been 
brought up in the church of which Dr. Pil- 
more was the rector, I imbibed, in general, the 
leading doctrines which were there preached, 
and with which those that I had been accus- 
tomed to hear at home coincided. The views 
of Komaine, Hervey, Newton, and others of 
the same school were regarded with great de- 
ference, and I well remember that I consid- 



REV. DR. TURNER. 29 

ered tlie denial of tlie direct imputation of 
Clirist's active obedience to the believer as tlie 
sole ground of his justification, as an abandon- 
ment of a fundamental trutL. of Cliristianity. 
Tlie texts in St. Paul's Epistles wMcL. were 
tliouglit to be conclusive in favor of tMs point, 
have since that time been carefully exa^mined, 
and I am satisfied that they do not teach the 
doctrine. 

After some time my attention was turned 
more particularly than before to the study 
of. the Greek Testament. I bought Park- 
hurst's Lexicon, fourth edition, octavo, 1804, 
congratulating myself on having secured for 
nine dollars and fifty cents the greatest Bib 
lical treasure of the sort which had ever ap- 
peared. I studied his introductory Greek 
grammar, and made myself familiar with the 
paradigms of the verbs so far as they are given 
in his work. It need not surprise you to be 
told that although I had graduated at the 
University, I could not infiect a Greek verb, 
and had no clear conception of the peculiar 
force of the middle voice, or of the distinction 
between the aorist and perfect tenses. Not- 
withstanding all the boasted improvements in 
the education of the present day, parallel cases 
are now not at all uncommon. Not a few 



so AUTOBIOGKAPnT OF 

young men have I found, fresh from college, 
with diplomas in their hands, who could not 
read, parse, and translate half a dozen verses in 
the Gospels with any thing like accuracy. In- 
deed, I have known graduates, res'pectable in 
general apquaintance with Latin and Greek, 
who could not thoroughly translate and. parse 
the first four verses of St. Luke's Gospel. 
Parkhurst's verbs, however, I mastered, and 
set about a careful study of the New Testa- 
ment in Greek, with the aid of his Lexicon. 
And although the book is how in a good de- 
gree superseded by others more profound and 
accurate, and although the author makes both 
it and his Hebrew Lexicon vehicles to convey 
to the student his Hutchinsonian notions, yet 
I must honestly acknowledge my great obliga- 
tion to this good and learned man for the 
important aid that his work afforded me. 
BishojD Marsh's translation of the introduction 
of John David Michaelis, which I got from 
London through a friend of my father resid- 
ing there, made me acquainted with the vari- 
ous points of New Testament criticism ; and 
Lio^litfoot's Horse Hebraicge et Talmudicse 
brought to my notice the vast importance 
of Jewish literature in illustrating Sciiptural 
phraseology. 



KEY. DR. TURNER. 81 

After pursuing, for some time, tlie study of 
tlie Greek Testament, I adopted a practice 
wMcli experience proved to be very useful. 
I accustomed myself to translate from Englisli 
into Greek. In this way, I became the more 
familiar witk the original text, so tkat before 
long I was able to use an Englisli l^ew Testa- 
ment in churcli, and to read to myself in Greek, 
tlie lessons in tlie Gospels, after tke officiating 
clergyman. Thus there became impressed on 
my memory many expressions, and even verses, 
of the Greek Testament, some of which it has 
retained to the present day. I regret that I 
did not carry out the principle, and, like that 
" right learned and godly man," Bishop An- 
drews, commit to memory the whole book. 

A year or more before receiving deacons' 
orders, I commenced the study of Hebrew. 
The Kev. Samuel B. Wylie, at that time teacher 
of Latin and Greek in the University of Penn- 
sylvania, was my instructor. Unfortunately, 
he was decidedly in favor of the system adopt- 
ed by Masclef, Wilson, Parkhurst, and some 
others, and attempted to teach the language 
without points, employing the matres lectiones 
as vowels, and introducing a short e wherever 
the concurrence of two consonants required 
some sound to be expressed for which the let- 



82 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

ters of the word did not provide. In tlie 
course of a few months, I thought I was mak- 
ing raj)id progress in the language. The Ma- 
soretical system of vowel-points appeared to 
me not only entirely useless, bnt a mass of 
confusion, a troublesome and traditionary excres- 
cence, marring the simple beauty of the sacred 
tree of divine knowledge. I continued reading 
Hebrew in this way, with the assistance of 
Parkhurst's Lexicon, for six or seven years, 
until I had gone through by far the greater 
part of the Bible. But the result was a vague 
and indefinite knowledge. I had to consult a 
translation in order to ascertain whether a word 
was a noun or adjective or verb ; and if the 
last, whether in a participial form, or preterite, 
or imperative, or infinitive, and whether it re- 
quired an active or passive sense, and was or 
was not intensive in meaning. From the text 
alone, I could scarcely ever come to a definite 
conclusion in cases of difficulty. And such, I 
presume, must be the experience of all who 
confine themselves to this system. 

My examination for orders was to myself 
very unsatisfactory, and, I think, it could not 
have been othermse to the examiners. I had 
never been accustomed to examine myself on 
what I had read, nor had I before been at all 



EEY. DR. TUENER. 83 

subjected to examination on theological points 
by otliers. * A good deal of reading without 
much thought, had left my mind poorly disci- 
plined. I had a general idea of the various 
topics on which the examination turned, but 
was not able to develop them clearly, for want 
of the habit of reflecting on, of analyzing, and 
of stating propositions definitely. A conscious- 
ness of this incapacity was an advantage to me 
in after-life. 



»* 



34 ATTTOBIOGEAPHT OF 



CHAPTEE II. 

< 

Ordination — Revisits Dr. Feltus — Succeeds the Rev. Wm. H. Wil- 
mer in Chestertown, Maryland — First Sermon there — Letter 
from Judge Chambers respecting the "I. U. Church " — Cha- 
racter and Extent of his Labors — The Haunted House — Pa- 
rochial Visiting — Labors among the Blacks — Weekly Lec- 
tures — Sermon-Writing — Theological, Ecclesiastical, and Bibli- 
cal Studies — Latin and Greek Classics, and Hebrew Language 
— Best Mode of Learning Ancient Languages — Important 
Principle in the Composition of Sermons — Pioneer in the 
Sunday-School "Work — Election of Bishop Kemp — ^War with 
England — ^Eight near Chestertown. 

I WAS admitted to deacon's orders in St. 
Paul's Cliurcli, PhiladelpMa, on the morning 
of the twenty-seventh of January, 1811, being 
twenty-one years and four days old. The Rev. 
Dr. Pilmore^ the rector, presented me. I 
preached my first sermon in. the afternoon of 
the same day, at Christ Church. Like most 
young men, I was rather desirous to deliver a 
carefully prepared discourse, than simply to an- 
nounce the glad tidings of salvation through 
Christ, although this point was not omitted. 
The text was the middle clause of John 3:19: 
" Light is come into the world." After stating 
in the exordium the important principles, " that 
God does nothing in vain, and that, when ne- 



EEV. DR, TURNER. 85 

cessary, He never fails to act," I proceeded to 
apply tlie latter axiom. It was my object to 
show, first, tlie necessity of a revelation from 
a view of religion and morals in tlie heathen 
world, previous to and at the time of the com- 
ing of Jesus Christ ; secondly, .to prove the 
truth of the position in the text, or to justify 
the assertion that "Light has come into the 
world ;" and, thirdly, " from taking a compara- 
tive view of Heathenism and Christianity, to 
evince the infinite superiority of the latter." 
You will readily perceive, that in an address to 
a Christian audience, much of the matter dis- 
cussed might have been regarded as admitted. 
The only good which could be expected to re- 
sult, was the confirmation of previously exist- 
ing faith. 

I spent the greater part of the year 1811 at 
home, officiating occasionally in the city 
churches. In the course of the summer, I 
made a visit to New- York. I passed some 
weeks in New-Jersey — in Swedesborough, 
Grlastenbury, and that vicinity. The Rev. Si- 
mon IVilmer, the successor of Mr. Feltus in 
Swedesborough, had, for a considerable time, 
been a frequent visitor at my father's. I spent 
some weeks at his house, and frequently preach- 
ed and lectured in his parish. In this way, I 



36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

became intimately acquainted witli his brother, 
the Rev. AVilliam H. Wilmer, clergyman of the' 
Church at Chestertown, Kent county, eastern 
shore of Maryland. Ther^ I made him a visit, 
preached in his church, and was introduced to 
some leading members of his congregation. 
He was then paying his addresses to Miss 
Marion Cox, of Mount Holly, N. J., and some 
time in the following January, I became his 
attendant on the occasion of his marriaQ:e. Just 
before this event, he had accepted an invitation 
to the church at Alexandria, Virginia, and I 
had been invited to become his successor at 
Chester fcown. Early in 1812, I entered upon 
the duties of this parish, in connection with 
that of St. Paul'S; eight miles farther down the 
county, the two having been for some time as- 
sociated under one clergyman. . My engage- 
ment was to officiate alternately every other 
Sunday morning in each church. My first ser- 
mon as pastor was preached on the morning of 
February sixteenth. It was a rainy day, and 
the congregation was small. I repeated it in 
St. Paul's, March twenty-second, to a larger au- 
dience. The words in 2 Cor. 5 : 20, " We are 
ambassadors for Christ," were selected as the 
text, and the subject was considered in the fol- 
lowing order : First, the embassy or message 



EEY. DE. TURNEE. 37 

itself ; secondly, tlie persons to wliom it should 
be announced ; and thirdly, tlie manner in 
wliicli it should be delivered. The embassy 
was stated to be the Gospel, the nature of 
which was explained and developed. The idea 
of delivering, in every discourse the general sys- 
tem of its doctrine was distinctly disavowed. 
It was stated that different points would be 
presented in different discourses ; also, what 
the points were which a right announcement of 
the Gospel necessarily involved, from the fall 
of man to his ultimate restoration in everlasting 
life by means of the only one Mediator, Jesus, 
and the sanctifying influence of the Spirit of 
Grace. With regard to the second point, it 
was shown that to all classes of persons, begin- 
ning with the most daring infidel, and compre- 
hending all sorts of sinners and worldly-mind- 
ed, to believers also of every description, the 
ambassador of Christ had his appropriate mes- 
sage, every part of which he was to draw from 
his authoritative document, the Woed of God. 
Thirdly, it was stated that the minister of 
Christ must deliver his embassy with fidelity, 
not corrupting the message, or announcing it 
imperfectly ; with earnestness, on account of its 
vast importance, and with love, as characteristic 
of its Author. The discourse was concluded by 



88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

requesting the prayers of the congregation for 
the pastor whom the providence of God had 
called to labor among them. 

The parish church of Ghestertown was not 
the building in the town itself. It was situated 
about -Qye miles north-west of it, and called 
I. U. Ghurch. I endeavored repeatedly to 
ascertain the meaning of these initials, but 
never found any one, during my residence in 
Maryland, who could decijDher it. My old 
friend and former parishioner, the Honorable 
Ezekiel F. Ghambers, of Ghestertown, to whom 
I lately applied for information, states as fol- 
lows : " It is quite remarkable that no tradition 
has brought down to the present, or, as far as 
I can learn, the past generation, the slightest 
explanation or history of the name. (The 
Parish Register was destroyed piece-meal by 
the culpable neglect of those who should have 
preserved it.) This was partly occasioned by 
the fact that it continued to be the parish 
church after our chapel was erected in this 
place, and long after it ceased to claim a 
regular worshipping congregation, even after 
its entire dilapidation. When I was a mem- 
ber of the State Senate, I had an act of as- 
sembly passed making our town church the 
parish church. Until then some few of us 



EEV. DE. TUENER. 89 

were accustomed to ride out to I. U. on every 
Easter Monday to elect a vestry. I have par- 
tially examined our old records, and although 
I find no direct allusion to the church's name, 
I find what to my mind is a satisfactory so- 
lution. It is * ascertained by reference to an- 
cient deeds on record, that there was a family 
in the vicinity surnamed ' Ulrick^ and among 
them a ^ John Ul/rick^ It is also known that 
the cross-roads which have always run there 
were known by the name of I. U. cross-roads. 
The place probably took the same name, and 
also the church." As a similar case Judge 
Chambers adduces that " of a village in Queen 
Anne's, called J. B., from John Brown, the 
owner of the adjoining territory." 

The church, which was known by this un- 
usual name, was very old, greatly decayed, in- 
deed almost dilapidated, and had not been 
used for sacred purposes for many years. On 
summer afternoons I often made appointments 
to preach there. The pulpit and desk were de- 
stroyed, so I used to accommodate myself by 
placing the door of one broken pew horizon- 
tally on the sides of another, selecting a spot 
where no loose portions of the ^ceiling threat- 
ened to fall, nor openings in the roof to let 
in a passing shower, and, arranging the Bible 



40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

and prayer-"book upon the hastily made lec- 
tern, I performed divine service and preached 
to the people of the surrounding country 
This church, I am informed, has lately been 
repaired. This is true also of one in the 
upper part of the county in Shrewsbury, and 
of St. Paul's in the lower part. These, with 
several others on the Eastern Shore, were put in 
good order under the Episcopal supervision of 
the present energetic diocesan. The sight of 
many large and fine church edifices suffered to 
go to ruin was very melancholy. In some 
places a small brick building had been erected 
a few rods from the church to serve as a vestry- 
room, and here divine services were occasion- 
ally held. I recollect riding with an old and 
much valued friend, the Rev. Henry Lyon 
Davis, seventeen miles on a week-day to a 
church in Caroline county on the border of 
Queen Anne's, where an appointment had been 
made. The church was found to be demolished 
except the walls, and its appearance gave too 
sure indications that it had been nsed for a 
long time as a shelter and stable for sheep 
and other cattle. The assembled con2freo:ation 
amounted to nine grown people, and four or 
five children. I very foolishly remarked to 
my reverend friend, that it would be ridicu- 



REV. DR. TURNER. 41 

Ions to preach to so few people; to wMcli lie 
very wisely replied, tliat it would be far more 
ridiculous not to preach to them. 

Although the crumbling edifice of I. U. was 
the parish church, yet that in the town, to 
which no particular name was appropriated, 
was always practically so regarded. There, 
during the time of my residence in Maryland, 
elections of wardens and vestrymen were an- 
nually held, and other church business trans- 
acted. The congregation was not very large, 
but quite respectable in general character and 
intelligence, some of its members having, since 
that time, become distinguished both in Church 
and State. I was always treated with kindness 
and respect ; and during my residence I culti- 
vated some friendships which will not terminate 
even with death, but I trust, will, after that 
event, become settled and immntable. 

On establishing myself at Chestertown, 1 
began house-keeping with my sister Eliza. We 
occupied the same building in which my prede- 
cessor had lived, a country place of the Wil- 
mer family, a short distance from the town, near 
the banks of a creek which emptied half a mile 
off into the Chester river. The family burial- 
ground was within about one hundred yards of 
the house, which had the unenviable distinction 



42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

of being liaunted ; and, as I afterwards learned, 
I acquired the reputation of laying tlie ghosts 
by means of a Bible or prayer-book placed 
under my pillow. The first night of our lodg- 
ing there made an indelible impression on the 
memory. The place swarmed ^vith rats, by 
whose persevering efforts large mounds of dirt 
had been thrown up in the cellar, and from one 
of its windows to another the grass had been 
completely worn by their feet. What with the 
noise they made in running about, the con- 
tinued and antiphonal barkings of dogs on the 
one side of the creek to those on the other, and 
of both, for all I know, to the full moon, (aided 
also by the voice of our own dog within or 
near to the house,) the yelling of cats, and the 
moanings of doves that had made their nests 
in the eaves of the long one-storied building, 
it was impossible to sleep with comfort, and 
equally so not to feel that the house was indeed 
haunted by natural beings both within and 
without, who were quite capable of annoying 
its sleepless inmates. Dinah, our servant- wo- 
man, would never stay at home when we were 
out to tea, unless she had the company and 
protection of her faithful husband. We found 
half a year's residence quite enough in this 
solitary mansion, and afterwards removed to a 



KEY. DK. TURNER. 43 

comfortable dwelling in the town, whicli we 
occupied during tlie remaining time of my con- 
nection with the parish. 

As soon as I became settled, I made syste- 
matic arrangements for ministerial duties, be- 
coming acquainted with all the members of 
both parishes. The families, without excep- 
tion, I regularly visited; those in the town 
once in about a month or six weeks and some 
oftener. The country residents were not so 
easily accessible ; but, as I kept a horse and 
chaise, I rode a good deal, and neglected none, 
however remote, who attended either of the 
churches. As I was the only Episcopal cler- 
gyman in the county, the length of which was 
at least forty miles, my time was considerably 
occupied in going about, especially when sickness 
prevailed. Still, I found by experience, that ha- 
bitual regularity and order were great helps to 
effort. I entered upon my parochial charge 
with about twenty-five sermons, most of 
which at that time I ventured to preach, al- 
though subsequently I burned the larger por- 
tion. Some, however, I have preserved, as 
they may be suggestive to you, if you take 
the trouble to read them. I preached in 
the town church and in St. Paul's alternate- 
ly every other Sunday morning. After offi- 



4A AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

elating at the town clmrcli in tlie morning, 
I usually held a second service either there, 
or, when the season was suitable, at I. U. in 
the afternoon, or else employed the time in 
catechetical instruction. During one season 
this service was conducted for the exclusive 
benefit of the colored population. On these 
occasions the lower part of the church was 
generally quite full. The congregations were 
always attentive to the instruction which I 
endeavored to give them clearly and simply; 
many of them joined audibly and earnestly 
in the devotions; and, I need not say, they 
sang " lustily and with a good courage." Af- 
ter performing the morning duty at St. Paul's, 
I used to ofiaciate also in the afternoon at the 
town church, except when in winter the roads 
were too bad to allow me, after a service be- 
ginning at eleven, to ride eight miles in time 
for another service the same day. 

Usually I limited my pulpit preparations to 
one sermon a week, irrespective, however, of 
occasional calls of duty, such as funerals, when 
in compliance with long-established usage, ser- 
mons were expected. Frequently, a large pro- 
portion of the hearers consisted of persons who 
were not in the habit of attending church, so 
that in this way an opportunity was given to 



REV. DE. TURNER. 45 

make known tlie truth to tliose wlio refnsed to 
put themselves under the ordinary course of 
edification. After I had been two months in 
the parish I established a course of Wednes- 
day evening services. These were continued 
with some intermissions and changes, during a 
large projDortion of the time that I lived in 
Chestertown. I began with the first Epistle 
to the Corinthians. I did not venture to ex- 
plain the Romans. The first lecture was deliv- 
ered on the evening of April sixteenth, 1812, 
and the series was continued until June. In 
the following November — about which time 
those persons who had been attacked by ague 
or intermittent fever during the summer or 
autumn usually recovered — it was resumed. 
Occasionally I reserved the consideration of 
very important texts for Sundays, especially 
certain portions in the second Epistle. Lec- 
tures were delivered also on other subjects, as 
occasion required, namely, baptism, confirma- 
tion, and the Lord's Supper. I also prepared 
and delivered six lectures on the first part of 
the Church Catechism, namely, the Christian 
covenant. I would probably have attempted 
to illustrate the whole of this " nsrsTsucTioN " 
of the Church if I had continued in the parish. 
It was my invariable practice to begin the 



46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

preparation of my serraon not later than Tues- 
day, generally on Monday. I devoted to it 
about two hours every morning, beginning di- 
rectly after breakfast, and usually finished on 
Friday. I never allowed myself to wait until 
I should get in a humor for writing. Experi- 
ence satisfied me that this came naturally in 
the very exercise, (Vwppetit vient en mangeant^ 
though it may have been commenced reluct- 
antly and even with aversion. As a general 
rule, the rest of my mornings, and the evenings 
which were not spent in visiting my friends, 
were devoted to study, and the afternoons to 
parochial visits. Of course this arrangement 
was subject to many interruptions; but still 
I found myself able to carry it out in a very 
considerable degree, and, I think I may add, to 
advantage. 

The chief topics of study to which I bent 
my attention were the Bible and ecclesiastical 
history — ^principally the former. I read a good 
deal of Hebrew; but, unfortunately, on an 
erroneous principle — ignoring the points. Some 
years afterwards I felt the truth of a remark 
which I heard made in Philadelphia by an 
earnest advocate of the Divine authority, not 
only of the Hebrew words and letters, but also 
of the vowel-points and accents, when he was 



KEY. DE. TUENER. 47 

declaiming against tLe system of Masclef as not 
tending to give tlie learner any clear and solid 
knowledge of tlie language : " You may plongL. 
a field through, and you may liave to plougL. it 
througL. over again." I read the Septuagint 
through, beginning February eighth, 1814, and 
finishing it October eleventh, 1815. But I made 
the great mistake of merely reading it without* 
comparing it with the Hebrew, or any translation 
— our own good old English, for example. The 
advantage derived was consequently very doubt- 
ful, and the impression made on my mind soon 
wore off. On June eighth, 1814, 1 commenced 
the study of the sacred history of the Old Tes- 
tament, intending to make use of sifch works as 
I could readily procure. Among them Stack- 
house's History of the Bible was prominent. In 
examining the Pentateuch, I availed myself of 
Jenning's Jewish Antiquities, and Graves' Lec- 
tures on its last four books. About the same 
time, I read also Leusden's Philologus Hebrseo- 
mixtus, Bishop Lowth on the Sacred Poetry of 
the Hebrews, Gregory's translation, studying the 
quotations from the Old Testament in the ori- 
ginal, Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses, 
and various other works bearing on the subject 
of the Scriptures. At one period I devoted a con- 
siderable portion of my time to Latin and Greek 



48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

classics. Between October twenty-tliird, 1815, 
and June, 1818, I read the following works in- 
Latin : Cicero de Officiis, his Orations, de Ora- 
tore, Senectute, Amicitia, Paradoxa ad M. Bru- 
tum, Scipionis Somnium, Sallust Bell. Catal. 
et Jugurth. twice ; Floras, Caesar, Comment, de 
Bell. Gallico et Civile, A. Hirt. Pansse Comment. 
de Bell. Alexandrino, Afric. and Hisp., Suetonius 
de XII. Csesaribus, Taciti Aunales, Historia de 
Moribus Germanorum, de Vita Agricolae, and 
Quinctilian de Oratoribus. During the same pe- 
riod I read in Greek, Longinus on the Sublime 
three times, the Oration of ^schines against 
Ctesiphon twice, Chrysostom on the Priesthood 
twice, Demosthenes on the Crown twice. On 
the twentieth of June, 1816, I undertook to 
study the Philippics. I had nothing to aid 
me but the Greek text, and an old and much- 
worn edition of Scapula's Lexicon, which I may 
say I used laboriously. By the eighteenth of 
September I had read all the eleven Philippics 
carefully, the ninth and tenth three times, all 
the others four, and two ^ve times. Philip's 
Letter to the Athenians, and the Oration on the 
Letter, I read three times. The only other 
Greek classics which were studied at that time 
were Lucian's Dialogues, and the Medea and 
Alcestis of Euripides. These were read twice. 



KEY. DR. TUENER. 49 

I read, also, but not very carefully, tlie first 
book of Origen against Celsus. I am still 
very decidedly of the opinion that habitual 
repetition is the most effectual process to in- 
sure facility in understanding ancient authors. 
I must express my regret that, in general, our 
schools and colleges compel their pupils to 
read so much — suffering them, also, to advance 
to the highest classes — while, in numerous in- 
stances, little or nothing is thoroughly mas 
tered. It is a fundamental mistake, and a 
main cause of the general want of accurate 
classical knowledge. 

In preparing my sermons, I laid it down as 
a principle, never to make a positive statement 
respecting any point of doctrine or fact, unless 
I thought that I could prove it ; or, at least, 
was quite confident that it could be maintain- 
ed. Doubtless, like many young preachers, 
I often - did make incorrect statements ; but 
the habit I thereby acquired, of considering 
how the truth of each proposition might be 
evinced, made me somewhat cautious, and, no 
doubt, often led me to correct a hastily-formed 
opinion, or the statement of an imperfectly 
known fact. I endeavored, also, to be gov- 
ered by a rule which I had seen laid down in 
Claude's Essay on the Compositio7i of a Sermon^ 



50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

and whicli made a strong impression on me in 
early life: explain teems. Tlie application' 
of this rule compelled me to consider carefully 
the meaning of the declarations made, and, I 
can not but believe, contributed to greater 
accuracy of statement. Indeed, it is my opin- 
ion, which has been strengthened by the ob- 
servation of every additional year of life, that 
if writers on divinity had always set this rule 
before them, and written in accordance with 
it, the Church would have been saved from 
the burden of a mass of theological logoma- 
chy. We should, doubtless, have had fewer 
dogmatical and controversial books than now 
load the shelves of libraries; but those few 
would be proportionately more accurate and 
intelligent. 

X continued to hold the two parishes thus 
associated for three years. At the expiration 
of that period, I relinquished St. Paul's, the 
Rev. Mr. Handy taking charge of that parish, 
and confined myself to that of Chest ert own. 
About that time, or a year before, I organized 
a Sunday-school in connection with the church 
in town. My sister and some other ladies de- 
voted themselves to the business of instruction. 
This was among the earliest Sunday-schools 
established in our Church. Indeed, I do not 



KEY. DR. TURNEE. 51 

know of any that preceded it, except tliat in 
the parisli of Swedesborough, under the care 
of the Kev. Simon Wilmer. I have reason to 
believe that it was very useful in the commu- 
nity. I succeeded, also, in founding, in 1816, 
the Kent County Bible Society, which vv^as 
very generally patronized. The most decided 
and high-toned Episcopalians of that vicinity 
never seemed to think that a union of differ- 
ent Christians, for the purpose of disseminat- 
ing the sacred Scriptures, could possibly be 
inconsistent with sound church principles. 

When I first settled in Maryland, the Eight 
Reverend Thomas John Claggett, who had 
been consecrated September seventeenth, 1792, 
was the diocesan. He appeared to be very 
much respected and beloved, but in conse- 
quence of his age and infirmities it was 
thought expedi^t to appoint an assistant, 
who should also succeed him on his death. 
At the meeting of the Convention in Baltimore 
in 1814, when the subject was brought up 
for consideration, the Bishop did not seem to 
be favorable to this measure, and therefore, 
when the question was taken, I gave my vote 
in the negative. My course gave no slight sat- 
isfaction to the party of the Rev. Mr. Dash- 
iell, the rector of St. Peter's Church, Balti- 



52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

more, wlio was as conspicuous for tlie warmtli 
and earnestness of his preacliing as lie after-- 
wards became for Ms inconsistent conduct 
wKicli caused liis deposition from tlie ministry. 
The majority of the Convention being in favor 
however, of having an Assistant Bishop, it 
was decided to go into an election. Mr. Dash- 
ieU endeavored to prevail upon me to vote 
in such a way as might tend to prevent the 
election of the Rev. Dr. James Kemp, of Cam- 
bridge, Dorchester county, a prominent clergy- 
man whom the leadino; members of the Con- 
vention had resolved to sustain. Althoug;h I 
had voted in opposition to the apj^ointment 
of any assistant, yet when I found that a ma- 
jority of the Convention were in favor of tlie 
measure, I thought it quite consistent to jdeld 
to the general wish, and gave my vote for Dr. 
Kemp. I afterwards saw a good deal of this 
gentleman, and accompanied him during some 
of his visitations in Kent and Queen Anne's 
counties, and in a portion of the State of Dela- 
ware which lay contiguous to Maryland. I 
found him uniformly kind and amiable. Al- 
though he was always classed among what 
are called the high-church clergy, yet his views 
were quite liberal, and his practice sufficiently 
accommodating. I distinctly recollect officiat- 



EEY. DE. TUENER. 53 

ing for him in tlie cliurcli at Shrewsbury, when 
he directed me to omit the ante-communion 
service, and preached immediately after I had 
gone through the morning prayer. Some time 
after I left the diocese, he had a difficulty 
with certain of his clergy, but I am not enough 
acquainted with its nature to give any account 
of or to express any opinion about it. His 
memory is deservedly cherished by the Church. 
During the war between the United States 
and Great Britain, which commenced in 1812, 
the counties lying on the Chesapeake Bay and 
the rivers emptying into it, were very much 
annoyed by the enemy. Cauntry places were 
rifled and destroyed, and villages burned. 
Among the latter were Georgetown and Fred- 
erick, on the Sassafras river, the former in 
Kent county, and the latter in Cecil, directly 
opposite, about nineteen miles north-east of 
Chestertown. The alarm and agitation pro- 
duced, and the apprehension that this town 
would soon be subjected to the same fate, in- 
duced a large proportion of the inhabitants to 
remove their most valuable furniture and other 
property into the country. Happily, however, 
we escaped the apprehended evil, though not 
without the occurrence of events fitted to 
deepen our sense of thankfulness at our ex- 
emption. 



54: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

On the iii2:lit of tlie tliirtietli of AuOTst a 
party of men under tlie command of Sir Peter 
Parker, landed and marclied some miles into 
the interior, to an open space called, from the 
owner of the farm to which it belonged, 
Caulk's field, which was about nine miles from 
Chester. A small company of militia, gath- 
ered from the town and the surrounding 
county, were encamped in the vicinity, under 
the command of Col. Philip Reed. Ezekiel 
F. Chambers, Isaac Spenser, John B. Eccles- 
ton, Esqs., and Major and Captain Hickes were 
among the leading officers. These were all, 
except one, communicants of my church. The 
moon was full, and the sky perfectly clear and 
bright. The Americans had been lying under 
the shelter of a thick wood, and when they 
emerged into the open field an engagement 
took place between the two parties. The 
Americans had the decided advantage of 
being, from their practice of shooting canvas- 
back ducks and other such game, well-trained 
and skillful marksmen. The conflict was of 
short duration, and the enemy, although 
greatly superior in numbers, were soon com- 
pelled to quit the field, carrying with them 
many who were wounded, and leaving one 
midshipman and eight men dead on the field, 



EEY. DE. TURNER. 65 

besides nine so mucli injured tliat six died in. 
tlie course of a few hours. A contemporary 
writes :* " Sir Peter Parker of tlie Menelaus, 
one of the -most distinguished officers of the 
British navy, was among the slain. He was 
mortally wounded with a buckshot, and died 
before reaching the barges, to which he was 
conveyed by his men. Certain information 
from the enemy assures us that their total loss 
in killed and wounded was forty -two or forty- 
three, including two wounded lieutenants." 
Perhaps the unnatural excitement of the foe 
exposed them the more to their cool and de- 
liberate antagonists, the British, it was said, 
having spent the early part of the night in 
carousing. It is a very remarkable fact that 
not a single American lost his life, and only 
one received a wound, and that not serious. 
Balls passed through the coats of several, but 
by the particular providence of God, their per- 
sons were preserved from harm. I have been 
surprised that this engagement excited at the 
time so little general attention, and has since 
been scarcely ever noted. 

On the announcement of peace there was a 

* Letter of Col. Reed to Brig.-Gen. Benjamin Chambers, dated Camp 
at Belle Aire, third Sept., 1814, published in the Kent Inquirer of June 
thirtieth, 1832, and republished in the Kent News^ Chestertown, Md., 
of Feb. seventh, 1857. 



56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

general rejoicing. The town was illuminated, 
and the windows ornamented witL. approj^riate 
devices. An old inhabitant, an earnest Me- 
thodist, William Harris, was particularly grati- 
fied by seeing in the window of my house, 
illuminated portions from Psalms 46 : 9,^ 
118 : 27,f and one or two other similar texts. 
From the latter passage of the Psalms I 
preached on April thirteenth, 1815, that being 
the day appointed for a general thanksgiving. 
Of course I did not omit to call the attention 
of the congregation to the remarkable fact 
that not an individual had been killed in the 
various engagements and skii'mishes in which 
they had taken part, and to urge it as a reason 
for special gratitude to God. 

* He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth ; he breaketh 
the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder ; he burneth the chariot in 
the fire. 

f God is the Lord, Wliich hath showed us light : bind the sacrifice 
with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. 



EEV. DK. TUENER. 57 



CHAPTEE III. 

Pernicious Effects of Climate and Slavery — He is offered a Pro- 
fessorship at Annapolis — Leaves Chestertown — Call to Ger- 
mantown, Pa. — St. Ann's, Brooklyn — Elizabeth, New-Jersey 
— Rev. Dr. Bowen — Grace Church, New- York — Dr. Jarvis — 
Return to Philadelphia — Visits Chestertown, Washington, and 
various places in Virginia, returning by Central Pennsylvania — 
His Mother's Death — Her Character — Historical and Theologi- 
cal Studies — Labors in Philadelphia — Trinity Church the Re- 
sult — Preached the Opening Sermon. 

During tlie time "bf my residence in Mary- 
land, most parts of the Eastern Shore were 
subject to agues and intermittent fevers ; and 
much exposure to the hot sun and the heavy 
dews of June, July, and August was very 
likely to produce disease. The long and un- 
varying continuance also of the warmth of 
summer tended to enervate the constitution. 
I often felt the effects of the climate in produc- 
ing lassitude and weariness. In 1816, I had 
an attack of intermittent, which for a consid- 
erable time incapacitated me for parochial 
duty, and enfeebled my constitution. As I 
perceived that the effect of repeated attacks 
of this sort was to injure the physical system 
and to induce other diseases not easily re- 

3* 



58 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

moved, I began to entertain serious tlionghts of 
transferring my residence to a more northern 
and salubrious climate. Tlie pernicious effects 
also of slavery on habits and energies had con- 
siderable influence in ripening my thoughts 
and feelings into a fixed determination. I 
could have settled, and in some respects advan- 
tageously, at Annapolis. I had an offer of a 
Latin professorship in the college at one thou- 
sand dollars a year, in connection with which 
position I could have obtained a church in the 
neighborhood with a salary of six hundred 
dollars. Bat I did not choose to accept a po- 
sition which I should not have been willing to 
retain. In the summer of 1817 I resigned my 
charge of the church at Chesterto^vn, which I 
had held for &ve years and a half I preached 
my farewell sermon on the morning of August 
tenth, 1817, from Phil. 4 : 7, having com- 
menced the subject suggested by the text on 
the previous Sunday. I left my parishioners 
with feelings of sincere regard and affection, 
which, I have good reason to believe, were 
very generally reciprocated. 

When I resigned the church at Chestertown, 
I expected to go immediately to Germantown, 
near Philadelphia, to become pastor of a newly 
formed congregation in that place. There was 



BEY. DE. TURNER. 59 

at that time, no cliurcli-edifice, but it was ex- 
pected tliat arrangements for erecting one 
would be carried into effect witliout delay ; and 
tliese expectations were soon afterwards real- 
ized. The situation of rector had been offered 
to me ; but as I delayed for some time to give 
a decided answer, some of the leading men be- 
came dissatisfied, and they called another can- 
didate, the Rev. Mr. Dupuy of Philadelphia, 
who accepted the invitation. 

I could not blame the vestry for thus 
passing me over, as they might reasonably 
have expected a prompt reply, and perhaps 
they considered my delay as disrespectful. 
The cause of my not immediately accept- 
ing the offer will a|)pear from what follows. 
Before I was invited to Germantown, my old 
friend, Mr. Feltus, who for some years had 
been rector of St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn, 
L. L, had been called to St. Stephen's, New- 
York, to succeed the Rev. Richard Channing 
Moore, who had been consecrated Bishop of 
the diocese of Virginia. Mr. Feltus, still re- 
taining his former friendship for me, was desir- 
ous that I should succeed him. The situation 
would have been to me very agreeable. Ac- 
cordingly, at his solicitation, I made him a visit, 
and officiated in his church. He- assured me 



60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

that there was no doubt of my being cliosen ; 
consequently, I expected to receive tlie call, 
and therefore delayed for a time my reply to 
the invitation from Germantown. 

On this occasion, however, I fell between two 
tubs. When I consented to appear as a candi- 
date for St. Ann's, I was not aware that the 
friends of another clergyman, a young deacon 
lately ordained, were endeavoring to secure the 
place for him. He had the decided advantage 
of being personally known, as he had married 
the daughter of aiT influential member of the 
vestry. I was told, also, that his appointment 
was strongly favored by the bishop of the dio- 
cese. The result was, that he was chosen by a 
majority of one. Afterward his health became 
impaired. A Southern climate was thought 
desirable, and he removed to Augusta, in 
Georgia. Subsequently, he came to the North, 
and settled first in Hartford, Connecticut, after- 
wards in the Mission Church in Vande water 
street, New- York, and lastly, as rector of St. 
Peter's Church, where he died, generally es- 
teemed and beloved. I refer to my respect- 
ed friend, the Rev. Dr. Hugh Smith. 

Thus I failed to get the parish of my old ac- 
quaintance and adviser, and lost, I may say, 
that of Germantown. But all these matters are 



I 



REV. DR. TURNER. 61 

subject to the working of Providence, whose 
agency gradually discloses itself out of the 
dark recesses of human error and disappoint- 
ment. Before I left Chestertown, it was sug- 
gested to me hy a friend, who was one of the 
vestry, to withdraw my resignation. But I 
could not consent to do this, as my reason for 
desiring a more northern residence still remain- 
ed in full force. I therefore sold my furniture 
and returned to my father's. I had not been 
there more than two or three weeks, when I 
received a request to supply the place of the 
Kev. Dr. Eudd, of Elizabethtown, New-Jersey, 
who wished to go to Ohio, and other parts of 
the Western country, and expected to be ab- 
sent two or three months. As my expenses 
were to be paid, and I had no particular em- 
ployment in view, and was informed, also, that 
the society was agreeable and the town pleas- 
ant, and as it was in the vicinity of New- York, 
where my sister, Mrs. Warner, and her daugh- 
ter resided, I complied with the request^ and 
removed to Elizabethtown. There I spent ten 
weeks most agreeably, and, I hope, somewhat 
usefully. I officiated twice every Sunday, and 
had evening lectures during the week. Six of 
these were on the Communion Service. The 
course was imperfect, as the rector returned 



62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

"before I had time to complete it. Tlie ac- 
quaintances I formed there were exceedingly 
kind and friendly ; several were highly intelli- 
gent, and some ranked among the most respect- 
able families in the State. On my leaving 
them, at the return of Dr. Rudd, the ladies of 
the congregation presented me with a hand- 
some gown and cloth cloak, together with some 
bands and cambric pocket-handkerchiefs. The 
donation was accompanied by a very kind and 
courteous note, to which I need hardly add 
that I replied as my feelings dictated, and in 
such terms as the sincere respect, which I cher- 

; ished for them, naturally prompted. 

I As the proximity of Elizabethtown to New- 

York led me to make occasional visits to the 
city, I became the better acquainted with some 
of the clergy whom I had known slightly be- 
fore. One of the most distinguished for intelli- 
gence, gentlemanly bearing, and Christian cha- 
racter, was the Rev. Nathaniel Bo wen, D.D., 

; rector of Grace Church. The death of that 

most estimable and devoted man. Bishop 
Dehon, having left the Diocese of South-Caro- 
lina vacant. Dr. Bowen was chosen to succeed 
him. Before determining whether to accept the 
appointment or not, he was desirous of making 
a visit to the diocese. Soon after my engage- 



REV. DR. TURNER. 63 

ment at ElizabetMown tad expired, lie pro- 
posed to me to supply Hs place in Grace 
Cliurcli, during tlie winter, tliat lie miglit make 
his contemplated visit. I feared to undertake 
so responsible a charge. My health was not 
very good, as the influence of the climate of 
Kent county had not been favorable to my 
constitution, and my residence in the flat region 
of Elizabethtown had not invigorated it. In 
order to diminish the amount of duty, the rec- 
tor proposed that I should ofl&ciate in the morn- 
ings, intending to secure the services of Dr. Jar 
vis, then rector of St. Michael's, Bloomingdale, 
for the afternoons. I consented to this arrange- 
ment, and the month of December found me 
residing in New- York, and filling as well as I 
could, the position of the rector of Grace 
Church. As Dr. Jarvis took the afternoon 
service, I became intimately acquainted with 
him. 

My temporary connection with Grace Church 
was the occasion of my forming friendships 
with some most estimable persons, with whom 
I should otherwise have had nothing more than 
a passing acquaintance I became somewhat 
intimate with the celebrated jurist, David B. 
Ogden; also with the distinguished John 
Wells, with whose eldest son and daughters I 



64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

have liad the satisfaction of cultivating a ■warm 
friendship during a long course of years. I 
formed an' intimacy, also, with the family of 
Mr. Isaac Lawrence, and received from them a 
continued succession of kindnesses, and with 
John Pintard, one of the warmest-hearted and 
most generous of men. These friendships last- 
ed till death dissolved the earthly tie, and thus 
prepared the way, as I trust, for a closer con- 
nection hereafter. 

In April, 1818, I returned to Philadelphia. 
My health had not been firm during the win- 
ter, and, as spring advanced, I resolved to take 
the advice of the family, and make a journey 
on horseback. I procured, therefore, a very 
pleasant little horse, and some time in June 
set out on my excursion. I bent my course 
first to Chjestertown, where I made a very 
agreeable visit among my old friends and par- 
ishioners. Crossing the Chesapeake in a pack- 
et from Rock Hall, steamers not being then in 
use, I went to Baltimore. From there I rode 
to Annapolis, Georgetown, Washington, and 
then to Alexandria, to see my former friend, 
Dr. William Wilmer. He took me to Mount 
Vernon, where I had the gratification, though 
not unmingled with melancholy, of visiting 
Washington's tomb, so little worthy of such a 



EEY. DR. TURNER. 65 

man, and of going tlirougli Ms residence. Af- 
terwards I directed my course westward in 
Loudon county, along tlie Potomac, to Har- 
per's Ferry. In consequence of abundant 
rains, I got but an imperfect view of tlie 
magnificent scenery. Leaving tMs point, I 
went to Hancock. As there was no regular 
ferry at tMs place, I crossed tbe river in a 
small boat, my horse swimming by the side of 
it. A ride of eight miles brought me to Bath, 
a beautiful spot, frequented in the summer 
by gentry from the vicinity, for health and 
pleasure. As the season was not sufficiently 
advanced for company, I found myself alone in 
the spacious mansion. The next day I return- 
ed to Hancock, and, crossing Sideling Hill and 
other mountainous elevations, where, for miles, 
I saw scarcely a solitary house, I journeyed on 
to Bedford Springs. After riding some dis- 
tance along the Juniata river, I returned 
home by the way of Carlisle, Harrisburgh, and 
Lancaster, having been absent about six weeks. 
During all this time, I met with only one 
accident. One day, on a turnpike near the 
Juniata, my attention was attracted by a man 
lying in a state of intoxication on the side of 
the road. Thinking he might be ill, I rode 
hastily across, and as I was bending on one 



6d AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

side to look at him the more closely, my horse 
shied, and threw me on the hard ground; 
Running off immediately, he dragged me a 
short distance, till, my shoe being pulled off, 
I was left lying on the road. Fortunately, I 
had not for some time been accustomed to 
wear boots, and made the whole journey with 
shoes; otherwise, I might have been severely 
injured. I was somewhat bruised, hui soon 
arose and went after my horse, which had 
been stopped at a neighboring toll-gate. 

On arriving at Philadelphia, I was met near 
my father's house by a man whom I had occa- 
sionally seen before, as he lived in the neigh- 
borhood. He accosted me in the words : 
" Well, you have heard the news, I suppose ?" 
On inquiring what he meant, he shocked me 
with the intelligence that my mother had died 
suddenly the day before. Arriving at the 
house, I found my father and sisters in deep 
distress. However greatly I lamented my ab- 
sence on occasion of this bereavement, I could 
not but feel thankful that I had been permitted 
to return home in health, and in time enough to 
see my dear mother's remains consigned to the 
tomb. She had lived to a good old age, hav- 
ing passed the period of three-score years and 
ten, greatly respected and beloved by all who 



EEV. DE. TUENER. 67 

knew lier. Witliout tlie least intention of 
writing her eulogy, I must say that she was a 
sincerely pious,, humble Christian woman, and 
attached to the Episcopal Church of her fa- 
thers, in which she had been educated, and 
had always continued a devoted member. 
Her life was governed by a conscientious sense 
of duty. In her domestic relations, she com- 
bined kindness with energy, and was noted 
for habitual attention to all family duties. 
She was indefatigable in her endeavors to pro- 
mote the interests and wishes of those with 
whom she had formed friendships. As a 
neighbor, she was always disposed to assist 
any who might need offices of kindness; and 
especially the poor, who were in the habit of 
soliciting advice and help in cases of sickness. 
Her knowledge of the nature of some diseases, 
and the character and action of certain medi- 
cines, which was obtained probably from her 
father, peculiarly fitted her for this. Some 
years before her death, she had suffered se- 
verely from a paralytic attack, from which 
she gradually recovered. A second succeeded 
it; and th6 third, which most probably was 
also apoplectic, carried her off suddenly. Her 
death • took place on the seventeenth day of 
June, 1818. A letter, apprising me of her ill- 



68 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ness, had been sent to Lancaster, but I had left 
tliere before it arrived. 

I now settled myself at tlie old paternal 
mansion, reading history, and pursuing theolo- 
gical studies. In the autumn, or early in the 
winter, I established a Sunday-night lecture at 
a school-room opposite our house, and gathered 
together a small congregation. Subsequently 
a large room was secured in a public building 
two streets below, which was known by the 
name of the Commissioners' Hall. The Kev. 
William Richmond, originally of Providence, 
Rhode Island, who had been a candidate for 
the ministry in the city of New- York, and late- 
ly admitted to deacons' orders, was invited to 
take charge of the congregation. He became 
very intimate with my father, who conceived a 
strong attachment to him. Efforts were soon 
made to build a church. The site selected was 
on Catherine street, directly opposite our vege- 
table-garden. Three lots were obtained, and 
subscriptions taken to raise the necessary funds. 
My father gave one thousand dollars ; and my 
sisters, with the aid of a few friends, establish- 
ed what was called a Mite Society, which col- 
lected at various times, in small sums, the 
amount of three thousand dollars. A neat 
and comfortable brick building was put up, 



REV. DR. TURNER. 69 

at the -cost of seven thousand dollars. My 
father, however, did not live to see the com- 
pletion of Trinity Church, that being the name 
by which it was called, in accordance with his 
wish. I had been then residing in New- York 
for some time, but being requested by Bishop 
White, who knew the interest that our family 
had taken in the church, and the efforts made 
by them to secure its permanent establishment, 
to deliver the opening sermon, I was present 
at its consecration. This took place on the 
morning of January seventeenth, 1822, when I 
preached from Psalm 95 : 6, on the subject of 
public worship. Mr. Richmond having al- 
ready accepted a call to St. Michael's, Bloom- 
ingdale, IS'ew-York, the vestry invited the Kev. 
Manning Brinkly Boche to take charge of the 
parish. He remained, however, but a short 
time, and was succeeded by the Bev. Levi 
Silliman Ives, who afterwards made himself 
so noted by apostatizing to Bome, after having 
exercised for several years the office of Bishop 
in North-Carolina. By this act he disclosed 
theological views at utter variance with those 
held by him while rector of Trinity Church. 
After him, the Bev. William C. Mead, now 
rector of the church in Nor walk, Connecticut, 
became the pastor, and the Bev. Mr. Coleman 
succeeded him. • 



70 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 



-CHAPTER IV. 

Appointed Superintendent of the Theological School in Phila- 
delphia — Bishop Alonzo Potter his first Pupil — Translation of 
"Bochart's Phaleg" — A General Theological Seminary Pro- 
posed in the General Convention — Measures Taken for its Es- 
tablishment — History of its Formation and Organization — 
Mr. Turner Elected Professor of "Historic Theology" — 
Charged Temporarily with the Duties of the Professor of Sys- 
tematic Theology — Dr. C. C. Moore's Gift to the Seminary — 
Rev. Dr. Gadsden's "Statement for the Seminary "-;— South- 
Carolina its Originator — The Error of the Bishop of Oxford in 
ascribing it to the Influence of Bishop Hobart — First Stu- 
dents in the Seminary — Professor Turner's Course of Instruc- 
tion. 

Iisr tlie latter part of tlie year 1818, tlie 
Society for the Advancement of Cliristianity 
in Pennsylvania, approj^riated a sum of money, 
to a " clergyman, whose duty it should be to act 
as a teacher of theology, provided the ecclesi- 
astical authority of the State (diocese) should 
make such appointment."^* The authority re- 
ferred to was no doubt the Bishop of the dio- 
cese, acting probably in connection with the 
standing committee ; and it conferred on me the 
appointment of " Superintendent of Theological 

* Seventh Annual Report, read at St. James'3 Church, January sixth, 
1819. 



REV. DR. TURNER. 71 

Students." Tlie salary was merely nominal, 
only one hundred and fifty dollars a year. 
My duty was to direct tlieir studies, and liear 
til em recite. The arrangement laste€ but a very 
short time, being superseded by another of a 
more definite and permanent character. Only 
two candidates attended me regularly. One 
of them was Mr. Samuel Sitgreaves, of Easton, 
Pennsylvania, a nephew of the Rev. Mr. (now 
Bishop) Kemper, who at that time was one 
of the assistant ministers of the three united 
churches of which Bishop White was rector. 
Mr. Sitgreaves died not many years afterwards. 
The other student was Alonzo Potter, who has 
since made himself so eminent as a man and a 
scholar, and who now fills the office of Bishop in 
the diocese of Pennsylvania, with so much honor 
to himself, usefulness to the Church, and benefit 
to the cause of learning and religion. When 
a student he gave evidence of that quickness 
and accuracy of perception, that varied and 
extensive information, that sound and discrim- 
inating mind, for which he has been distin- 
guished through life. When he entered upon 
the study of divinity, he had not received bap- 
tism. On occasion of his public admission by 
this holy sacrament into the church of Christ, 
which took place in St. Peter^s, Philadelphia, 



72 AUTOBIOaEAPHY OF 

the Bisliop officiating, I was his witness. Ever 
since that period, I have had the satisfaction of 
an intimate acquaintance with my first pupil, 
to whom I %lt at the time, that I was not com- 
petent to give such instruction as was adapted 
to his intellectual ability. 

During my previous residence at Elizaheth- 
to^vn and IS'ew-York, I had employed a good 
deal of my leisure time on a translation into 
English of Bochart's Phaleg. This is the first 
part of his Geographia Sacra. After examining 
in the first book, various topics suggested by a 
comparison of facts and statements in Genesis 
with correspondences, real or supposed, which 
are contained in classical and oriental antiquity, 
the author, in the three following, draws from 
the same ancient sources all that can be found 
relating respectively to the posterity of Shem, 
Japhet and Ham. The second part, which is 
in two books, occupies about as much space as 
the four of the former, and treats of the colo- 
nies and language of the Phoenicians. I had 
begun the translation some years before, in- 
tending to go through both parts. This work, 
which seems to have exhausted all the ancient 
sources of information, on the geographical, 
historical, and philological points of which it 
treats, was made known to me by Dr. Wylie, 



KEY. DE. TURNEE. 73 

wliile I was pursuing witli Lira, tlie study of 
Hebrew, and I examined a good deal of it 
witli mucli interest. Along with it I read 
Gale's Court of the Gentiles^ a very -curious and 
learned production, whicli tlie Doctor lent me, 
tlie author of wMcL. borrowed largely from 
Bochart. I for a long time cherished the idea 
that a translation of this work would be high- 
ly acceptable to literary people, and particu- 
larly to the clergy, who would eagerly seize 
the opportunity of making themselves ac- 
quainted with its ancient treasures, and of 
confirming thereby their faith in the state- 
ments of the Old Testament Scriptures, es- 
pecially of the Book of Genesis. Under this 
impression, I worked assiduously until I had 
got into the third book, when my enthusiasm 
cooled very much, and I brought my trans- 
lating labors to a close. The numerous quo- 
tations from Latin and Greek writers I left 
untranslated, which was a great mistake, as the 
English reader would have required a version 
of those, as well as of the author's language. 
After abandoning the undertaking, I never at- 
tempted to revise the translation, and have 
scarcely looked at the manuscript since. The 
profoundly learned work remains in its origi- 
nal dress, for students who can read Latin, and 
4 



74 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

are willing to take some trouble in order to 
acquire such antiquarian lore as tends to eluci- 
date and confirm tlie word of God. 

Tlie subject of a Theological Seminary, for the 
benefit of candidates for the ministry, had for 
some years past engaged the attention of some 
of the most prominent bishops and clergy of 
the Episcopal Church. Such institutions were 
already in existence in several other denomina- 
tions, some of them in active operation, and 
one at least — ^that of Andover, Massachusetts 
— ^largely endowed and flourishing. The mat- 
ter was brought for consideration before the 
General Convention held in the city of JN'ew- 
York in May, 1817. On the twenty-sixth, the 
House of Bishops adopted the following reso- 
lutions, which had been drawn up by Bishop 
Dehon :^ 

" Hesolvedj That it is expedient to establish, 
for the better education of the candidates for 
holy orders in this Church, a General Theologi- 
cal Seminary, which may have the imited sup- 
port of the whole Church in these United 
States, and be under the superintendence and 
control of the General Convention. 

''''Resolved^ That this Seminary be located 
in the city of E^ew-York. 

* See Dr. Gadsden's Statement made in the ConTention of South- 
Carolina, February nineteenth, 1819. 



KEY. DR. TURNER. 75 

''''Resolved^ Tliat persons be appointed 

by tlie House of Bisliops to visit the several 
parts of tlie United States, and solicit contri- 
butions towards funds for founding and endow- 
ing sucli an institution. 

^'' JResolved^ That a Committee be appointed, 
to consist of the presiding Bishop, and the 
Bishops of this Church inJN^ew-York and ISTew- 
Jersey, with three clergymen and three lay- 
men, to be appointed by the House of Clerical 
and Lay Deputies ; which Committee shall be 
empowered to receive and manage such funds 
as shall be collected — to devise a plan for es- 
tablishing and carrying into operation such an 
institution ; which plan shall be communicated 
to the several Bishops of this Church ; and in 
the event of sufficient funds being obtained, 
if a majority of the Bishops shall have ap- 
proved the plan, to carry it into immediate 
operation." 

" These resolutions were concurred in by the 
House of Clerical and Lay Deputies ; and they 
appointed as a Committee on their part, the 
following gentlemen, namely : 

" Of the Clergy — The E-ev. Dr. Whaetoi^, 
the Rev. Dr. How, the Bev. Dr. Haeeis. 

" Of tlie Laity — Hon. Rufus Kijs^a, William 
Meeedith, Esq., Hon. Chaeles P. Meecee." 



76 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

In accordance witli one of the resolutions, 
" tlie Rev. Daniel BuRHAisrs, of Newtown, Con- 
necticut, the Rev. Nathaniel Bowen, D.D., of 
tlie city of New- York, and the Rev. William 
H. Wilmee, of Alexandria," were appointed 
to solicit contributions in different States for 
the proposed institution. Each of these gen- 
tlemen was furnished with the necessary pa- 
pers,' certified by the presiding Bishop, who 
also accompanied them with a lucid exposition 
of his own views and those of his Episcopal 
brethren, on the great importance and useful- 
ness of a proper theological training for the 
ministry, and the advantages which might rea- 
sonably be expected to result from the estab- 
lishment of a Seminary for the purpose. 

In the month of October, of the same year. 
Bishop Hobart addressed the Convention of 
the State of New- York on the same subject. 
He began by the statement that "without a 
ministry, the Church can not exist / and desti- 
tute of a learned as well as a pious ministry, 
she can not flourish^ He then proceeded to' 
show the vast importance of establishing the 
proposed divinity-school, and urged the duty 
of making liberal contributions, in order to 
carry the design into vigorous effect. 

On the twelfth of December, Bishop White, 



BEY. DR. TURNER. 77 

as Cliairman of tlie Theological Committee 
apjDointed by tlie General Convention, increas- 
ed tlie number of persons to collect contribu- 
tions by adding twenty-five names of gentle- 
men resident in the city of ISTew-York, seven 
of whotn were clergymen. This was done in 
accordance with the wish of Dr. Bo wen, and 
^t the representation of New- York members. 

On the fifteenth and sixteenth of January, 
1818, the Committee held a meeting in Phila- 
delphia, and adopted certain resolutions bear- 
ing on the subject. They also addressed a 
letter " to the Members of the Protestant 
E23iscopal Church in the United States," show- 
ing the importance and necessity of establish- 
ing such an institution. It was signed by 
Bishops White, Hobart, and Croes ; also by 
Dr. Wharton and Mr. Meredith. The Kev. 
Dr. Harris, then President of Columbia Col- 
lege, and the Hon. Mr. Mercer, of Virginia, 
" members of the Committee unavoidably pre- 
vented from attendance," expressed their ap- 
probation of the address. 

The next meeting of the Committee was 
held in the same city on the seventh and 
eighth of October, in the same year, the same 
gentlemen also being present as before. Eight 
resolutions were then passed, " the first being 



78 AUTOBIOGRxVPHY OF 

proposed "by Bishop White, and the others "by 
Bishop Hobart." The first resolution relates 
to the establishment of professorships ; name- 
ly, one of '• Biblical Learning," another of 
" Systematic Theology," a third of " Historic 
Theology, embracing a view of the Constitu- 
tion of the Christian Church, of the Orders of 
the Ministry, and of the Nature and Duty of 
Christian Unity." The only other professor- 
ship was that of " the Ritual of the Church and 
of Pulpit Eloquence," comprehending " the du- 
ties of the Clerical Office." The arrano:ement 
was very judicious, and quite worthy of its 
author. 

Of the other resolutions, the fifth was cer- 
tainly objectionable. It required the profes- 
sors to " conduct the students through all the 
books prescribed in the course of study set 
forth by the House of Bishops, making them 
thoroughly acquainted with the subjects of 
which those books respectively treat." Every 
one who knows what that course is, knows 
also the impossibility of complying with such 
a requisition. The limited period even of 
three years, (and at that time the term of 
candidateship did not exceed one,) Avould not 
allow half the time necessary to study the 
books referred to. I need not hesitate to say 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 79 

that, at present, no one recommends sucli a 
course, and no candidate thinks of attempting 
sucli an enterprise. The author of the resolu- 
tion could not have properly considered what 
an immense task it imposed. 

Among these resolutions was also the follow- 
ing : " That, when the funds of the Institution 
admit, the Rev. Charles H. Wharton, D.D., be 
appointed Professor of Systematic Theology, 
and that the Rev. Samuel F. Jarvis be now 
appointed Professor of Biblical Learning, and 
the Rev. Saipuel H. Turner Professor of His- 
toric Theology ; and that these two last-named 
Professors receive for the present, and until 
they can be detached from parochial cares and 
devoted solely to the objects of the Institution, 
a salary of eight hundred dollars per annum. 
That, until the other Professorship be filled, and 
the Professor of Systematic Theology enter on 
the duties of his office, the subject of System- 
atic Theology be assigned to the Professor of 
Historic Theology, and that the Professors of 
Biblical Learning and of Historic Theology 
provide, by joint arrangement, for the object 
assigned to the Professor of the Ritual of the 
Church and of Pulpit Eloquence." Inasmuch 
as the Committee had been constituted by the 
General Convention with power " to carry the 



80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

plan into immediate operation, if approved by 
a majority of the Bishops," I may date my 
appointment as Professor in the General Theo- 
logical Seminary from the eighth of October, 
1818/^* 

When the resolutions just stated were an- 
nounced to me by my friend, the Rev. Jackson 
Kemper, now Bishoj), I shrank at the idea of 
assuming such a responsibility. The depart- 
ment of Historic Theology alone appeared 
more than enough for a person of my comj^ara- 
tive youth and inexperience as an instructor, 
and I freely expressed to him my reluctance to 
undertake the additional duties involved in the 
resolutions. Mr. Jar vis also felt that it would 
be difficult, not to say impracticable, to perform 
the various duties of a parish a few miles from 
the city, in addition to those of so important a 
Professorship. These views he expressed to 
Bishop Hobart, who replied that measures must 
be taken to release him at once from parochial 

* The importance and usefulness of a school for the regular train- 
ing and instruction of candidates for the ministry impressed themselves 
strongly on my mind before I was ordained. I distinctly recoUect that, 
when I was a student, as early as 1810, I heard a sermon preached in 
St. Paul's Church by the Rev. Richard Channing Moore, afterwards 
Bishop of Virginia, which brought the subject very vividly before my 
mind, and made me think what a blessing it would be to have any di- 
rect agency in carrying such an object into effect. The point of asso- 
ciation in the sermon which suggested the thought I do not remember. 



REV. DR. TURNER. 81 

cares. Whetlier it was tliese difficulties or cer- 
tain otliers wMcli tlie Committee refer to, where- 
by they were induced to alter their arrange- 
ments, I do not positively know. In the report 
to the Convention they remark as follows : 

" The plan contemplated in the above resolu- 
tions not succeeding, another meeting of the 
Committee was held in the city of Philadelphia 
on the seventh of February, 1819, the same 
persons being present as at the previous meet- 
ing." On this occasion Mr. (now Dr.) Clement 
C. Moore's offer of sixty lots on condition of 
ha^dng erected thereon " the buildings of the 
Theological School," was made and accepted. 
The Committee then " assigned to the Professor 
of Biblical Learning the subjects of Systematic 
Divinity, and of the Ritual of the Church and 
Pulpit Eloquence." They passed also this reso- 
lution : " That, in consideration of the more ex- 
tensive sphere of duty assigned to the Profes- 
sor of Biblical Learning, and of his situation as 
^having a family, his salary be fixed at two 
thousand -?i.Ye hundred dollars per annum, with 
a house as soon as one can be erected ; and, in 
the mean time, with an allowance of ^yq hun- 
dred dollars per annum in lieu of a house, in 
the expectation of his applying himself solely 

to the discharge of the duties of his station; 
4* 



82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

and that, the same considerations not applying 
to the Professor of Historic Theology, his sal- 
ary be fixed at a thousand dollars per annum, 
in the hope that the funds of the Institution 
will speedily admit of a more adequate remu- 
neration." Thus I became relieved from the 
accumulation of responsibility and duty before 
referred to, and which I was reluctant to un- 
dertake. It was imposed on my colleague with 
a salary sufficiently ample to compensate for 
any additional labor to which he might be 
subjected. 

At the meetinp; of the Convention of South- 
Carolina in 1819, the Rev. Dr. Gadsden, after 
wards Bishop of the Diocese, made, on the 
nineteenth of February, "a statement for the 
Theological Seminary," whi^ was published 
by order of the Convention. This able and 
interesting address shows the great importance 
of theological knowledge among the clergy, and 
urges, with the author's characteristic zeal and 
eloquence, the duty of the Episcopal Church- 
to take measures for increasing and educating 
its future ministry. Among other things, he 
makes this statement, which ought ever to be 
held in view : " The honor of originating the 
measure for the proposed Seminary belongs to 
this diocese. It was introduced by our delegates 



EEV. DE. TURNEE. 83 

to the General Convention in 1814, and by that 
body referred to the consideration of the re- 
spective dioceses. It was renewed by our dele- 
gates in the Convention of 18 lY, and was then 
nnanimously adopted. We are pledged not to 
permit this Institution to die in its birth, and 
to foster it with unceasing care and liberality. 
May I not be permitted to add that our per- 
severance is due to the memory of our late 
Bishop [Dr. Dehon] ? In this cause he labored 
unto death. The resolutions adopted by the 
General Convention were from his pen." The 
resolutions in favor of the Seminary which im- 
mediately followed the address were unani- 
mously adopted, and the Church in South- 
Carolina responded to the call of her devoted 
minister, and contributed nobly to the support 
of the great object which had occupied his 
mind, filled his heart, and inspired him with 
energy and eloquence.^'* 

Early in the spring of 1819, Dr. Jarvis and 



* The Bishop of Oxford, in his History of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in America, affirms that "it was mainly to Bishop Hobart that 
this Institution, so full of promise for America, owed its origin." But 
this statement is not sustained by satisfactory evidence. Dr, Wilber- 
force's acquaintance with the history of the Seminary seems very im- 
perfect, and his account to have been drawn from very limited sou^-ccs. 
He does not even mention the name of Bishop Dehon. See Stanford 
and Swords' Edition, 1849, chap, xi p.. 263. 



84 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

I entered upon our duties. Nothing was done 
to bring the Institution before the Church. No 
publication was made .of its opening, and no 
inaugural address delivered, or public religious 
service of any sort performed. Those who 
might have been expected to make arrange- 
ments of this sort relied, perhaps, upon the 
New-York authorities, who remained ineffect- 
ive. The number of students was limited to 
six, constituting one class. Their names are as 
follows : Lawson Carter, James P. F. Clarke, 
George Washington Doane, Benjamin Dorr, 
Manton Eastburn, and William Hinckley 
Mitchell. With the exception of the last, 
who died in the spring of 1836, in South-Caro- 
lina, where he exercised his ministry, all are 
still living, and some have become distinguish- 
ed in the Church. I began my course of in- 
struction in Ecclesiastical History with the 
Old Testament, using the English Bible, and 
illustrating from various authorities. Pri- 
deaux's Connection was soon adopted as a text- 
book. In the history of the Christian Church 
we made use of Mosheim. I endeavored to 
supply the deficiencies of this manual, and to 
correct certain of its erroneous views, especial- 
ly on the subject of the government of the 
early Church, by introducing additional mat- 



EEV. , DR. TURNER, 85 

ters from otlier sources, and especially tlie early 
Church writers themselves. I made consider- 
able use also of Ms Commentarii de rebus 
Christianorum ante Constantinum Magnum, 
and Dissertationes ad Ecclesiasticam Historiam 
pertinentes. The arrangement of bis work I 
altered, so as to give tbe student a consecutive 
view of tbe facts narrated, and of tbe doc- 
trines, beresies, usages, and discipline devel- 
oped in tbe progress of tbe bistory. During 
tbe preceding winter I bad become very well 
acquainted witb Prideaux and Mosbeim, baving 
made a complete abstract of both, with matter 
selected from otber authors. My familiarity 
witb these text-books made tbe use of a vol- 
ume in examining a student almost unneces- 
sary. 



86 AUTCsfoGEAPHY OF 



CHAPTER V. 

Indiflference of Bishop Hobart and leading New- York Clergymen 
to the Seminary — Proof of Want of Interest — DiflSculties with 
Professor Jarvis — Professor Turner's Views on certain points 
of Theology not in Harmony with those of Bishop Hobart — 
The Seminary removed to New-Haven — Bishop Brownell's Re- 
marks in regard to ffc — The Seminary organized on a New 
Plan — Open to Students of all Religious Denominations — Inci- 
dents of the Summer's Vacation — Introductory Discourse at 
New-Haven — ^Varied and Pleasant Duties in the Seminary — 
Its Patron's and Friends — His Father's Death — Sketch of his 
Life. 

The General Theological Seminary, as orig- 
inally established, did not flourisli in ISFew- 
York. It is certain tliat the leading men in 
the Church there, did not take much interest in 
it.^ For causes which can only be ascertained 
from data well known to persons concerned, 
Bishop Hobart treated it with comparative in- 
difference ; and it is not to be questioned that, 

* Even after residing in the city some time, as professor, I -^vas 
asked by Episcopalians of station and character, who supposed that I 
was on a visit there, how long I intended to remain ! 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 87 

witli the great proportion of Churclimeii in Ms 
diocese, his word and practice were equivalent 
to law. The place assigned to the Professors 
for meeting the students was a small room, 
immediately beyond the corner of the north 
gallery in St. Paul's Church. Here we attend- 
ed them daily, both before the summer vaca- 
tion, and also after it, until the approach of 
cold weather compelled us to seek a situation 
where we could enjoy a fire, there being 
neither chimney nor stove in the room refer- 
red to. Accordingly we removed to St. John's, 
where, sometimes in the vestry -room, which 
lay then contiguous to the chancel, at the 
north-east corner of the building, and some- 
times in the adjoining part of the church 
which contained one of the stoves, we con- 
tinued our attendance on the class. , As the 
church was frequently opened for prayers, and 
was also in a retired part of the city, it seemed 
to be the most suitable place which could be 
selected. After some time, however, we learn- 
ed that objections had been made to its being 
used for this purpose ; and on one occasion, 
finding the doors locked, and not being able 
to enter the church, we were told by the sex- 
ton, Mr. Wunenberg, a German, that we could 
not be allowed to continue there, unless Dr. 



88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Jarvis and myself would snpply the fuel. 
Who authorized the sexton to say so, I do not 
know, as he gave us no further infonuation. 
But it is not probable that he w^ould have 
presumed to make such a communication with- 
out some authoritative direction. As we did 
not choose to comply with this condition, St. 
John's Church was abandoned. Mr. Carter, 
one of the students, who at that time was 
principal of a young ladies' school, kept in the 
second story of a house on the north-west cor- 
ner of Broadway and Cedar street, very kindly 
offered us the use of this room in the after- 
noon. We gratefully accepted the offer, and 
there all the exercises of the General Theo- 
logical Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in the United States of America, were 
held during: the latter months of 1819 and the 
earlier ones of 1820. I well remember hearing, 
in that room, Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Doane 
read, in Greek, portions of the Epistles of Ig- 
natius. The volume used was the edition of 
Vossius, owned by me, but now the property 
of the Seminary Library. During the period 
referred to, I do not remember ever to have 
been asked where the exercises of the Semi- 
nary were conducted. It appeared to me that 
scarcely any one either knew or cared. And 



EEV. DE. TUKNER. 89 

notliing was ever said or done, Iby tliose wlio 
possessed the riglit of giving directions, respect- 
ing any public opening of the Institution by 
an address or otherwise, or any examination of 
the students at the end of a term. 

I have said that but little interest was taken 
in the Seminary during the time of its con- 
tinuance in New- York. Certain friends of Dr. 
Jarvis had for some time been desirous of se- 
curing his ministerial services in Boston. It 
was a remarkable coincidence, that "the same 
mail which conveyed to him an unofficial 
account of his appointment" to a professor- 
ship, with a salary of eight hundred dollars, 
brought also the intelligence that the vestry 
of Trinity Church, Boston, were about to 
appoint him assistant minister of that church. 
And soon after he had official notice of his 
appointment as professor, he "received also a 
copy of the vote of the vestry, together with a 
unanimous vote of the congregation, approving 
of their proceedings." Thus the offer of the 
two positions was contemporaneous. At first 
the Doctor felt strongly inclined to accept that 
of Trinity Parish in preference to the profes- 
sorship, but when the arrangement was made 
which enabled him to dissolve his connection 
with his church in Bloomingdale, and devote 



90 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

himself exclusively to the duties of his profes- 
sorshij), he decided in favor of the latter posi- 
tion, and accepted it on March sixth, 1819. 
But within the very short period of two 
months after commencing his duties, he came 
to the conclusion that no hopes were to be 
entertained of the success of the Seminary. 
His friends in Boston had already been making 
efforts to raise money, in order to build a 
church, in the hope that he might be induced 
to become its rector, and early in May he gave 
a verbal promise to that effect, and on the first 
Monday in June informed Bishop Hobart of 
his intention. 

By some the Seminary's want of success was 
attributed to the Doctor's determination to dis- 
solve his connection with it. Its abandonment 
by its learned professor was said to account for 
the coldness shown to the Institution, and its 
very considerable failure. Thus the responsi- 
bility of its low state was thrown upon him. 
But on the other hand. Dr. Jarvis always main- 
tained that the evident want of interest in the 
Seminary determined him to consider favora- 
bly the proposition to remove to Boston, and 
finally induced him to accept the offer of a 
church there. He saw no probability of the 
Institution rising to any distinction, and felt 



EEV. DE. TITENER. 91 

himself authorized to accept wliat lie regarded 
as a more useful and eligible position. 

It is not necessary, neither would it "be expe- 
dient for me, to enter into any details respect- 
ing the difficulties which grew out of this mat- 
ter. It is enough to say, that the Board of 
Directors thought it right to reduce Dr. Jar- 
vis's salary to the rate of two thousand dol- 
lars a year for the time already spent in con- 
nection with the Seminary. They even ac- 
corded to him iheif' permission to leave it as 
soon as he might think proper. The Doctor, 
however, continued to maintain his position, 
and also his claim to the stipulated three thou- 
sand dollars. He prepared a particular and 
detailed statement of the whole matter, to be 
laid, if necessary, before the Committee on the 
Theological Seminary, appointed by the Gen- 
eral Convention which was held in May, 1820, 
in Philadelphia. Although he was not a mem- 
ber of that Convention, he was present at 
its meetings. Still he withheld the paper for 
reasons which I am not able to state."^ 

Eventually Dr.^Jarvis obtained the entire 

* Some particulars above mentioned I ha\ e draTm from that docu- 
ment, for the use of which I am indebted to the author's son, the Rev. 
S. F. Jarvis, of Thomsonville, Connecticut, who courteously granted me 
the loan of it. I shall have occasion to resort to it again ; and, as be- 
fore, shall occasionally introduce the very words of the statement. 



92 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 

sum. The Trustees, wlio met at New-Haven 
in September, after tlie removal of tlie Semi- 
nary to that city, passed a re»olution recogniz- 
ing bis right to the whole amount. They had 
been told however at the same time, that 
nothing more than such a recognition by that 
body was desired ; and that the one thousand 
dollars which remained unpaid would not be 
demanded. The Rev. Jackson Kemper, who 
was present on that "occasion, and stood alone 
in opposing the measure, told me that such a 
statement had been made to the Board by one 
of the Doctor's Boston friends. Whether such 
promise was made by authority I do not know ; 
but this I do know, that Mr. Charles Dennison, 
the treasurer, informed me that, before leaving 
New-Haven, Dr. Jarvis applied to him for the 
money, and that he paid it. I have repeatedly 
heard that the Doctor applied the money to 
the support of a young man who afterwards 
became a student of divinity. 

It always appeared to me that the want of 
interest in the Seminary, while originally in 
New- York, was^. not owing to Dr. Jarvis's ar- 
rangements to leave it. He uniformly main- 
tained that, on the contrary, this determination 
of his resulted from the previously manifested 
indifference. His mind, which before vacil- 



KEY. DE. TUENER. 93 

lated between tlie two offers, and was only in- 
duced to accept tlie professorship in conse- 
quence of tlie change of terms and conditions 
from those of the original arrangement, became 
decided in favor of its first impression, and 
thus he resolved to leave the Seminary. Still 
I can not but say that his determination was 
too hastily formed. He accepted the professor- 
ship on the sixth of March. On the twelfth 
of the same month a subscription-paper was 
prepared in Boston, with the view of raising 
the necessary funds to build him a church ; 
and of this he was informed on the twenty- 
fourth. In "the latter part of April, or be- 
ginning of May, Mr. Sullivan came to New- 
York," and before he left, " on the sixth of 
May," Dr. Jarvis had "given him the assur- 
ance that he would accept the rectorship of 
the church when it should be duly offered." 
Thus it appears that, at so early a period, he 
had made up his mind that the Institution 
would not succeed; and this could not have 
been more than six weeks after its opening. 
It may well be doubted whether he had al- 
lowed time enough to enable him to form such 
a conclusion ; and whether, after accepting a 
position with a salary of three thousand dol- 
lars a year, which had been offered with the 



94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

express ^dew of removing objections that lie 
had made to the previous arrangement, it was 
right and proper, in so short a time, to deter- 
mine on relinquishing it. Still I am confident 
that delay would have made no change with 
respect to efforts for the permanent establish- 
ment and growth of the Seminary. I do not 
think that Bishop Hobart was sufficiently sat- 
isfied with either him or myself to feel much 
inclination to encourage the Institution, while 
we were its only professors. The Bishop was 
desirous of establishing two courses of study — • 
an imperfect one of a year, and another more 
complete and extending to the term of three 
years. Neither of us had any sympathy with 
his wishes in this respect. Dr. Jarvis had for 
several years been regarded as a superior bibli- 
cal scholar, and he directed the attention of 
the students to the Hebrew and Greek Scrip- 
tures. The Bishop was not much versed in 
that kind of learning, and had no great respect 
for it. I recollect on one occasion, when I 
dined at his house, in company with all the 
students, soon after the reorganization of the 
Seminary in New- York, referring to the author- 
ity of Bishop Marsh of Peterborough, the trans- 
lator of Michaelis's Introduction, the Bishop set 
aside his Kight Rev. Lordship's authority with 



EEV. DR. TUENER. 95 

the remark : " Oli ! lie 's nothing but a biblical 
critic !" The acquirements of Dr. Jarvis in 
this department did not raise him very high in 
Bishop Hobart's estimation. 

My own views on certain points of theology 
were not in harmony with those of the Bishop. 
I was also accustomed to express myself with 
a good degree of honest freedom ; and some- 
times, no doubt, I was not sufficiently discreet 
or accurate. On the subject of regeneration 
I had frequent conversations with him. I never 
could acquiesce in his opinion on this subject. 
He limited the idea of regeneration to the 
merely outward change of a visible covenant 
relation with God, effected through water bap- 
tism. He has been grossly misunderstood, I 
may say, indeed, misrepresented, as if he did 
not admit the necessity of an internal change. 
He certainly did avow it in the plainest possi- 
ble language, although he expressed this by 
other words, limiting the application of the 
term regeneration as I have just stated. On 
the subject of Episcopacy too, while I agreed 
with him in the fundamental principle of its 
being a divine institution, I could not affirm its 
necessity to the very being of a Church. My 
views on this point were expressed in the in- 
troductory discourse delivered at the opening 



96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

of tlie Seminary, on its subsequent removal to 
New-Haven. I v^ill liere quote the passage, 
wnicli, I learned, was satisfactory to the Church- 
men of Connecticut : " The form of govern- 
ment which Jesus Christ or His Apostles may 
have settled for His body, the Church, and the 
character and grade of those officers that were 
appointed for the purpose of administering the 
word and sacraments, which are the ordinary 
channels of divine grace, can not be uninterest- 
ing subjects to the Christian inquirer. But it 
must be acknowledged that, in the present 
day, they do not receive that share of atten- 
tion which their importance merits. The stu- 
dent of divinity must give them a fair investi- 
gation. When this is done, I do not hesitate to 
express the opinion that the result will be a firm 
conviction of the apostolic and divine origin 
of those orders of bishops, priests, and deacons 
which the Preface to our Ordination Service 
declares to have been in Christ's Church from 
the Apostles' time; asserting also that this 
4s evident to all men, diligently reading holy 
Scripture and ancient authors.' The establish- 
ment of these orders by the Apostles, and the 
influence of the Holy Spirit in their establish- 
ment, are facts which we think very suscepti- 
ble of proof With regard to the consequences 



REV. DR. TURNER. 97 

that may be conceived to be the legitimate 
conclusions deducible from those facts, agree- 
ment in opinion among Churchmen ought not 
to be demanded, and can not reasonably be ex- 
pected." (Pages 29, 30.) 

I had formed these opinions as the result of 
a somewhat extensive course of reading on the 
subject while under the direction of Bishop 
White, and I have not yet seen reason to alter 
them. Bishop Hobart, like all Churchmen of 
similar views with whom I have ever happen- 
ed to converse on the subject, assumed that, if 
Episcopacy was of divine origin, it must neces- 
sarily be permanent ; whereas this is the very 
point to be proved. The same principle, ap- 
plied to the doctrine of ecclesiastical parity, 
was assumed by Cartwright and other Puri- 
tans, and is examined and refuted by Hooker.'^ 
At one time, in arguing with the Bishop, I re- 
ferred to Bishop White, and also to Hooker. 
In reply, he alluded to the pamphlet which the 
Bishop published in August, 1T82, entitled, 
" The Case of the Episcopal Churches Consid- 
ered."f Here he advocates the appointment 
of some presbyters as superintendents, with the 

* Book iii. sec. 10, vol. i. p; 394, et seq. Oxford edition of 1T93. 
f Some notice of this publication may be seen in Dr. Wilson's 
Memoir of the lAfe of Bishop W7iite, p. 81, et seq. 

5 



98 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

power of ordination ; sucL. authority, however, 
to last no longer than the existing emergency 
which, he maintains, made it then necessary. 
Bishop Hobart's language to me was in these 
very words, " He wanted to make Presbyteri- 
ans of us all ;" to which he added : " Bishop 
White's inconsistency — and Hooker's incon- 
sistency, too, if you will." I did not believe, 
and .never have believed, that either of 
these distinguished men was chargeable with 
inconsistency on the point in question. My 
only motive in mentioning these circumstances 
is to show how improbable it is that Bishop 
Hobart could regard with much interest and 
satisfaction a Seminary under the instruction 
of two professors, between whose theologi- 
cal preferences and views and his own, there 
was such discre]3ancy. Surely if he had so 
regarded it, he would not have remained so 
inactive. As Dr. Jarvis remarks in the docu- 
ment before referred to : " This able and enter- 
prising prelate was never known to pursue a 
favorite object with an unsteady gaze or an 
erring aim." 

The General Convention of May, 1820, pass- 
ed a resolution to remove the Seminary to 
New-Haven. On the fourteenth of July, Bish- 
op Brownell, President ^ro tem.^ published, by 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 99 

order of tlie Board of Trustees, a plan, preced- 
ed by an address, and followed by resolutions. 
The address gives a very brief statement of 
the original establishment of the Institution. 
It then goes on to remark that : " Either from 
some defect in the plan, or from objections to 
the location, or from some other causes, the 
Seminary languished in New- York, and it was 
determined by the General Convention to re- 
move it to New-Haven, and to reorganize it 
on a different plan." From the plan which fol- 
lows the address, I transcribe the second and 
third sections of the fourth article, which, for 
a considerable time, had the force of law, and, 
as I well know, were carried into operation. 
Subsequently they were rescinded : " Section 

II. The Seminary shall be equally accessible to 
students of all religious denominations, exhib- 
iting suitable testimonials of character and 
qualifications. But no one, while a member of 
the Institution, shall be permitted to promul- 
gate opinions tending to disturb the harmony 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Section 

III. Every student, during his first term of 
study, shall be considered as a probationer. 
And if, at the end of that time, the professors 
shall think him so far deficient in industry, so- 
briety, or discretion, as to be unfit to proceed 



100 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

in Hs studies, they shall privately direct liim to 
withdraw himself from the institution." 

The Seminary was to be reopened in ISTew- 
Haven on the thirteenth of September. I had 
been spending the summer at my father's in 
Philadelphia, where I had devoted some time 
to the preparation of an introductory discourse. 
A few days before the appointed time I went 
to Jersey City, then called Panlns' Hook. As 
the yellow fever had made its appearance in 
some parts of Philadelphia, intercourse with 
New- York had been interdicted. I therefore 
hired a boat and was rowed from New-Jersey 
to the opposite shore north of the city. I 
landed near what was then the State Prison. 
Many years after the building was purchased 
by Mi\ Jacob Lorillard, who endeavored to 
make it a hospital for sick strangers who 
might desire a suitable boarding-place. He 
went to great expense in arranging the build- 
in o; so as to accommodate the inmates with 
every convenience, and in beautifying the 
grounds. But the enterprise failed. The 
house still stands in what is now called West- 
Tenth street, near Washington, and is at pres- 
ent known as the Empire Brewery. At the 
time I speak of, it was a considerable distance 
out of town. I found Mr. Warner's carriage 



REV. DR. TURNER. 101 

waiting for me on the bank, and was conveyed 
to the country-seat of Mr. John Slidell, a gen- 
tleman with whom I had become acquainted 
during my residence in the city. This was a 
very pleasant retreat, with a beautiful lawti 
extending some distance in front to the Bloom- 
ingdale road. Now all the ground in that vicin- 
ity and far above is thickly built upon. The 
mansion still stands, and is a large frame build- 
ing, situated on the north-west corner of the 
Sixth avenue and Thirtieth street. Here I 
spent Satiu^day, and after going on Sunday to 
a church in the country, passed the night at 
Camperdown, on the East River, the sum- 
mer residence of Mr. Isaac Lawrence. In 
company with this friend of myself and the 
Seminary, on Monday morning I got on board 
a steamer bound for New^-Haven, where I 
found the Rev. Jonathan M. Wainwright, 
John Pintard, Esq., and several other gen- 
tlemen who had showed great interest in the 
Seminary. About sundown we arrived at 
New-Haven, and the next day I delivered 
in Trinity Church the introductory discourse, 
which was published at the request of the 
Trustees. 

After a brief allusion to my feelings on the 
occasion, I proceeded to show the necessity of 



102 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

an able and well-instrncted ministry to tlie 
prosperity of the Church. Under the general 
head of ability were comprehended piety and 
learning j and under the latter point, the ne- 
cessity of a critical and extensive acquaintance 
with the Scriptures in their original languages 
was especially insisted on. I then attempted 
to show that the establishment of theolos^ical 
schools was the most certain method of effect- 
ing this desirable object, and referred to the 
prophetic establishments mentioned in the Old 
Testament, and to the Jewish and Christian 
schools of later periods. A brief view of the 
course of studies intended to be pursued was 
then presented, the Scriptures and Ecclesias- 
tical History being regarded as comprehending 
the most imjDortant topics. The discourse closed 
with a short notice of the subject of church 
government, part of which has already been 
transcribed. 

Thus the General Theological Seminary was 
commenced in l^ew-Haven on the thirteenth of 
Sej)tember, 1820. It opened with ten students, 
to whom four others were soon added. It ap- 
pears from the names contained in the report 
of the Trustees made to the Special General 
Convention which was called in 1821, that the 
whole number of students had been twenty- 



EEV. DK. TUEXEK. 103 

eight. Of those one was " not a regular stu- 
dent, but eno^ao:ed in teachino; a school," anoth- 
er " had leave of absence," three had " left on 
account of ill-health," and two had been ' " ad- 
mitted to orders." Of the original twenty- 
eight, seventeen are still living, two of whom 
are Bishops, one a Professor in the Seminary, 
and others highly respectable rectors of par- 
ishes. Of a large majority of the students in 
New-Haven I can truly say that, during the 
whole period of my connection with the Insti- 
tution, I have never known more attentive, 
studious, thorough, and in every respect de- 
corous young men. Most of them were re- 
markable for their diligence and application. 
The public examination which was conducted 
in Trinity Church in July, 1821, was to me 
the most satisfactory I ever took part in, and 
I have reason to think that it made a very 
favorable impression on all who were*present. 
The statutes secured to the students a long 
vacation in the winter. This arrangement was 
made in order to afford them an opportunity, 
if desired, of engaging during that time in the 
business of instruction. I had therefore more 
than three months at my disposal. Towards 
the close of the term in 1820, I heard one of 
the students, now the Eev. Dr. Johnson of 



104 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Jamaica, Long Island, read some Hebrew ac- 
cording to tlie points. This was the first time 
that I had heard the language so read. On my 
return to Philadelphia, where I spent the vaca- 
tion, I set to work to learn the forms of the 
language, and to read it according to the vowel- 
points. Unfortunately I had no instructor to 
keep me right, and therefore lost no little time 
in making the effort. However, by repeatedly 

plodding over portions of Robertson's ^, 

David Levi's Grammar in his Lingua Sacra, 
and Bythner's Lyra Prophetica, I managed to 
get some acquaintance with the Masoretical 
punctuation, and to read Hebrew slowly ac- 
cording to the old method. On my return to 
New-Haven in the spring, I endeavored to im- 
part what little knowledge I had to those stu- 
dents who were disposed to take the trouble to 
learn. 

Dfiring a considerable portion of the time 

* Note by the Editor. — One of the following works is doubtless 
here referred to, but, as we have no means of ascertaining which title 
ought to fill this blank in the manuscript, we append them all. 

Robertson, J. Grammatica Linguae Hebrae, cum notis. 8vo. Edin. 
1758. 

lb. Clavis Pentateuchi. Svo. Edin. 1770. 

Robertson, W. A Key to the Hebrew Bible, by which most of the 
words are unlocked and opened in an Alphabetical Praxis upon Psalms 
of David, and Lam. of Jeremiah. Svo. London 1656. 

lb. Thesaurus Linguae Sanctae, seu Concordiantiale Lexicon Hebraeo- 
Latina Biblicum. 4vo. London. 1680. 



REV. DR. TURNER. 105 

spent in ISTew-Haven, I met tlie students every 
Saturday nigM in the lecture-room, for critical 
and devotional purposes alternately. On the 
latter occasions I either lectured or preached 
to them ; and on the former, one of them read 
a critical essay, which was the subject of re- 
mark by any who might choose to speak in re- 
lation to its matter or manner, and also by the 
professor. One of the critical essays was in 
Latin, but I am not aware that it elicited any 
especial comment. We lived together in great 
harmony, and my feelings were like those of 
an elder brother helping the younger members 
of the family. Bishop Brownell attended to 
the delivery of sermons, and to the department 
of Pastoral Theology, and met the class once a 
week. During my continuance in his Diocese 
he was uniformly kind, hospitable, and friend- 
ly ; and the residence of his family in 'New- 
Haven contributed very much to my satisfac- 
tion and enjoyment. In the summer season I 
frequently visited some neighboring vacant 
parish and officiated ; but generally I attended 
Trinity Church, of which Dr. Harry Croswell 
was rector. In the winter the building was 
excessively cold, as the practice of warming 
places of worship had not then been introduced 
in Connecticut. 
5^ 



106 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

The Seminary in ISTew-IIaven was patronized 
by many of tlie leading Cliurchmen, especially 
in Soutli-Carolina and New- York City. ' From 
those of the latter place particularly, it received 
extensive presents in books; and the name of 
John Pintard must ever be most prominent, 
for the liberality of his donations, and the 
great number, value, and rarity of the works 
which adorn its library. Among them I may 
mention, as specimens, the Bibles of Kennicott, 
Houbigant, Montanus, and Castalio ; the Vul- 
gate of Sixtus V. ; and the Paris and Complu- 
tensian Polyglots. The last of these is a beau- 
tiful and well-preserved copy, in six volumes, 
which he saw announced in a London cata- 
logue, and for which he paid three hundred 
dollars. The General Theological Seminary 
never had a truer friend than this really 
Christian Churchman, whose religious character 
was habitually kept warm and active by his 
expansive benevolence. 

Towards the close of July, my sister Eliza, 
who had lived with me in Maryland, came to 
New-Haven, to make me a visit, at the house 
of Mrs. Blagg, with whom I had been boarding, 
and who was an excellent old lady, the widow 
of a New- York merchant. On Saturday, the 
day after the examination, we were about to go 



REV. DR. TURNER. 107 

to Hartford. I liad ordered a conveyance im- 
mediately after an early dinner. While it was 
waiting at the door, the Southern mail came 
in, and I immediately went to the post-office, 
a few yards off, to inquire for letters. I re- 
ceived one, informing me of the illness of my 
father. This of course put a stop to our ex- 
cursion. About six in the evening, we left' 
New-Haven in the stage, and, after riding all 
night, arrived at New- York about eight in the 
morning. There we learned that my sister 
and Mr. "Warner had gone to Philadelphia, and 
that my father was not expected to recover. 
We took the mail-stage about two, and, after 
spending another night in travelling, reached 
home on Monday morning. Our father had 
died two days before, on the twenty-sixth day 
of July, 1821. His illness was short but severe. 
He spoke to my sister Esther of the time when 
his pain, which w^as caused by an inflammation 
of the bowels, was most severe, as his trying 
examination-day; showing that his thoughts 
were turned to what at the same time was 
engaging my attention, and also that he re- 
garded the chastisement as sent by the Lord, 
as a trial of his faith. He was indeed a sin- 
cere Christian man, full of faith and good 
works. His views of religion were deep and 



108 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

experimental, and, in the right sense of the 
word, decidedly evangelical. 

My father entered the ministry when about 
fifty years of age. He had not the advantage 
of a collegiate education, and therefore all clas- 
sical examination was dispensed with. He was 
recommended for holy orders by the Pennsyl- 
vania Convention of June twenty-first, 1791, 
and in the Journal of that held in June fifth, 
1792, his name appears as rector of St. Mar- 
tin's, Marcus Hook. He was ordained by Bish- 
op White, although no report of it by the Dio- 
cesan appears in either of the Journals. For 
his ecclesiastical head he always entertained 
the most profound respect, and his regard was 
kindly reciprocated. He and the Kev. Jehu 
Clay were, for many years, assistant ministers 
to the Eev. Nicholas Collin, D.D., a Swedish 
Missionary, who was rector of a church called 
Wicaco, or Weccacoe,* (now Gloria Dei,) in 
Southwark, Philadelphia; of another named 

* I am informed by the Rev. Dr. Clay, the present rector, son of 
the gentleman above mentioned, that "this was the name at that time, 
of that particular locality.'* He supposes both it and "Passyunk, on 
the Schuylkill, to have been of Indian origin." He remarks also as 
follows : "At the time this church was built, Dr. Rudman, the first 
rector, says there was a dispute among the Swedes with regard to the 
place where it should be erected, those living on the Schuylkill wish- 
ing it to be at Fassyunk, and those in the vicinity at Wicaco. This 
seems to show that this locality was called by the latter name." Dr. 



REV. DR. TURNER. 109 

Kingsessing, alDOut six miles from fhe city, 
near tlie village of Derby ; and a tMrd in Up- 
per Meriom Township, on the Schuylkill, about 
two miles from Norristown. Dr. Collin had a 
strong attachment to the Episcopal Church, 
and a high respect for Bishop White. He and 
the Episcopal clergy of Philadelphia were 
on terms of intimate friendship. Indeed, at 
the time I speak of, any thing like party feel- 
ing was unknown. The few city ministers 
were fraternal in their feelings towards each 
other, and filial in those towards their eccle- 
siastical father. However they may have dif- 
fered on some theoretical points and practical 
usages, I can truly say that afterwards, during 
the time of my acquaintance wdth them, I 
never heard a harsh word uttered by any one 
against any other. Every summer, about cher- 
ry-time, they all met to spend a friendly even- 
ing at my father's, and another at Dr. Collin's. 
On one of these latter occasions I was present, 
being a student of divinity, and the Kev. Mr. 
Barnwell Campbell, who had just arrived from 
England, read to the clergy Dr. Buchanan's 
celebrated sermon entitled. The Star in the 

Clay adds that "the name Gloria Dei, by which the church is now 
known, occurs occasionally in the early records, and that this is its 
proper ecclesiastical title." 



110 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

East. He had been introduced by the Rev. 
Dr. Abercrombie, who had before become 
deeply interested in the discourse. It was 
afterwards printed in Philadelphia, and its cir- 
culation produced a favorable impression in 
behalf of the cause of foreign missions. Mr. 
Campbell was then quite a young man, of very 
agreeable and unassuming manners, and of 
strong religious feeling. His son, who is now 
a respectable clergyman of Charleston, S. C, 
has much of his father's character. 

Since the death of Dr. Collin, the three 
churches of which he was rector have become 
connected with the Episcopal Church. My 
father, an assistant of Dr. Collin, was also rec- 
tor of the church at Marcus Hook, a village 
on the Delaware River, about twenty miles 
south of Philadelphia, where he officiated once 
a month. When a boy I was in the habit of 
accompanying him to the country churches. I 
also went with him occasionally to Concord, 
Wilmington, and other places where he hap- 
pened to officiate. He died in his seventy- 
ninth year. I may venture to say that few 
men were more generally and deservedly es- 
teemed.'"' The crowd that attended his funeral 

* I refer you to an obituary notice, (the author of which, I regret 
to say, is not certainly known to me,) in the Gospel Advocate, March, 
1822, p. 104. 



EEY. DR. TURNER. Ill 

at St. Paul's Churcli was so great that it be- 
came necessary to keep the gate clear, in order 
that the procession might have room to enter. 
In his will, my father appointed his only sur- 
viving son and his two unmarried daughters 
executor and executrices. Its provisions were 
carried out with that feeling which ought to 
characterize near family relationship. On mak- 
incr such arrano-ements as were advisable from 
the situation of the property left by him, it 
became necessary to open three streets, near 
Catherine, between Second and Fifth. The 
names by which they were designated. Har- 
mony, Union, and Concord, and which they 
still bear, were purposely chosen, to indicate 
the feeling referred to. 



112 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 



CHAPTEE VI. 

A Diocesan Theological School established in New- York, at the 
Instance of Bishop Hobart — Jacob Sherred's Legacy — A Spe- 
cial General Convention called to consider it — The Seminary 
restored to New- York — United with the Diocesan School under 
a New Organization — Reorganization of the Seminary — First 
Critical Publication — South-Carolina Trustees suggest a Semi- 
nary-Building — Bishop White's Remarks on laying the Corner- 
stone — Professor Turner's Marriage — Progress and Character 
of the Seminary Buildings — Study of the French and German 
Languages — Revision of our Church Psalmody and Hymns — 
Translation of "Jahn's Introduction," with Notes — Birth of 
his First Child — Establishment of Public Worship at the 
Seminary — Formation of a Sunday-School — St. Peter's Church 
grows out of these Labors — Studies in Ancient and Modem 
Languages, and in Rabbinical Writings — Dr. Nordheimer. 

While tlie school of tlie prophets was pursu- 
ing its quiet and retired course, in New-Haven, 
discussions were going on, and conflicting pub- 
lications issued elsewhere, respecting the com- 
parative expediency and usefulness of various 
diocesan institutions or of a general one. The 
New- York Cbnvention of 1820 had, at the in- 
stance of the BishojD, established a " Protestant 
Episcopal Theological Education Society of the 
^ State." This Institution had gone into opera- 
tion before the meeting of the Convention of 



EEV. DK. TUENEE. 113 

1821, as appears from tlie Diocesan Address to 
the Clergy and Laity on tliat occasion. Its 
"principal school was placed in the city of 
New- York, and a branch of it in the village 
of Geneva," each under its respective profes- 
sors. 

In Marcli, 1821, Mr. Jacob Sherred, a vestry- 
man of Trinity Church, New- York, died, and 
left a legacy of about sixty thousand dollars to 
a General Theological Seminary in New- York, 
or to a diocesan one within the same limits. A 
suggestion was made, whether the establish- 
ment of a General Institution in that diocese 
would not secure a legal claim to the legacy. 
The opinion of some of the most distinguished 
lawyers was decidedly in favor of assigning it 
to the Education Society. "With a view to 
settle the difficulty a Special General Conven- 
tion was called, and it was agreed by the re- 
spective parties that the General Seminary 
should be removed to New- York, and a new 
Institution organized by uniting it with the 
local school of that diocese. Thus the merging 
of the two into one was the formation of the 
present General Theological Seminary. 

Bishop Hobart, in whose diocese the Institu- 
tion was now reorganized and reestablished, 
very kindly inquired what position therein 



114: AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

would be most acceptable to me. In accord- 
ance with what I then stated to him in reply, 
I was soon after appointed Professor of Bibli- 
cal Learning and Interpretation of Scripture. 
For this office, which I have already held more 
than forty years, I very gratefully express my 
obligation to the Right Rev. Diocesan, by 
whose agency I have been enabled, however 
imperfectly, to assist very many of our clergy 
in studying the oracles of God, and thus pre- 
paring them for the exercise of the ministry, 
by "bringing out of their treasures things 
new and old." 

In December, 1821, the Trustees published 
"the Constitution" of the newly organized 
Seminary, with an "Address to the Protestant 
Episcopalians of the United States," and "Res- 
olutions," along with a statement of the Pro- 
fessorships " in the city of New- York," and " in 
the Branch School at Geneva," and some other 
matters. Bishop Bowen also, of South-Caroli- 
na, appealed in behalf of the Seminary, to the 
Convention of that diocese, held in 1822. A 
Committee on the subject reported in its favor; 
and, by desire of the Convention, the Bishop, 
in an address to the members of his Church, 
earnestly requested their cooperation. The 
subject was renewed in 1823, when the same 



EEY. DR. TURNER. 115 

interest was manifested by the Convention of 
tliat diocese. 

Tlie Faculty of tlie newly-establislied Semi- 
nary in ISTe w-York consisted of tlie Rev. Bird 
Wilson, D.D., wlio had a short time before 
been aj)pointed by the Trustees to the Depart- 
ment of Systematic Divinity, and myself, of 
the original General Institution ; and also, of 
the Diocesan School, Bishop Hobart, the Rev. 
Benjamin T. Onderdonk, Messrs. Clement C. 
Moore and Gulian C. Verplanck. The branch 
at Geneva was continued but a short time. 
The arrangements of the Professorships of this 
school were very strange. Dr. McDonald was 
appointed "Professor of the Interpretation of 
Scripture^ Ecclesiastical History, and the Na- 
ture, Ministry, and Polity of the Church," and 
"the Rev. John Reed, Professor of Biblical 
Learning r An extraordinary disruption, tru- 
ly, of one department ! From this time the 
salaries of Dr. Wilson and myself were fifteen 
hundred dollars each, and of Mr. Moore, seven 
hundred and fifty dollars. The services of the 
other gentlemen were gratuitous. Mr. Ver- 
planck, to whom the Evidences of Revealed 
Religion had been assigned, after some time 
published his lectures and resigned. Bishop 
Hobart heard the students read the service 



116 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

and deliv^er sermons once a week, when Ms 
Episcopal duties did not interfere with the 
arrangement. Mr. Onderdonk, being a regular 
assistant minister of Trinity Church, found by 
experience that he could not devote the time 
which was necessary for suitable preparation 
in his department, which related to the Church 
and to Ecclesiastical History. An arrange- 
ment was therefore made to relieve him, and 
Dr. Wilson and myself consented to give, tem- 
porarily, instructions in the latter department. 
This arrangement, which lasted a few years, 
was originally suggested by Bishop Hobart, 
and made in accordance with a resolution 
passed by the Trustees, in reply to a note 
addressed to that body, July twenty -third, 
1822, by Mr. Onderdonk, in which he tendered 
his "resignation of the department." 

I "consented to undertake, for a time, so 
much of ecclesiastical history as comprises 
the Old Testament, and the connection be- 
tween it and the JSTew, together with the first 
three centuries of the Christian Church." Dr. 
Wilson took the subsequent period, that of 
the Reformation being most particularly at- 
tended to.^' 

* See our statements in the General Report made by the Faculty to 
the Trustees, May fourteenth, 1823. 



EEY. DR. TURNER. 117 

The introductory address on occasion of 
opening the Seminary in the city of New- 
York, was delivered in Trinity Church on the 
evening of March eleventh, 1822, by Bishop 
Hobart ; on the evening of December twenty- 
seventh, 1822, I delivered an address in the 
same church ; JN^ovember thirteenth, 1823, Dr. 
Wilson ; and subsequently, Professors Onder- 
donk and Moore performed the same duty. 
The classes attended the several professors in 
rooms of the Trinity Church school, at the 
corner of Canal and Varick streets, and this 
arrangement was continued about ^ve years. 

Early in May, 1822, having rented a house 
on the south side of Franklin street next to 
the corner of Church, I went with my two 
sisters to live there. We continued there 
three years, and then removed to Broadway, 
one door south of Bleecker street, on the east 
side, where we lived two years. 

In 1824 I published in a pamphlet of one 
hundred and thirty pages, Notes on the Epis- 
tles to the Romans, I dedicated this, the first 
of my publications to Bishop White, to whose 
friendship I always felt that I was indebted 
for my connection with the Seminary. About 
thirty or forty copies were sold ; the remainder 
of an issue of seven hundred and fifty I gave 



118 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

away, chiefly to students of the Seminary, 
whom I supplied for several years. In this 
work, (for I may so call it, as no little labor 
was bestowed upon it,) I committed the prac- 
tical error of too much brevity, from a desire 
of producing the matter in a cheap form. If 
this did not occasion obscurity, it resulted in a 
production which required more trouble to 
examine than even clergymen and candidates 
were disposed to give. As my old friend. Dr. 
Henry Lyon Davis, told me, it demanded too 
much from the reader. The Greek words were 
printed in a very contracted form, only two or 
three of the first letters being given. Numer- 
ous texts, necessary to be examined in order 
to perceive their bearing on the interpretation 
which they were intended to confirm, were 
merely referred to. The book was rather 
favorably noticed in an English periodical. 
But the reviewer charged the author with a 
good many erroneous interpretations. Had he 
taken the trouble to read throuo-h the notes 
which contained them, he would have found 
that in almost all the cases specified, these in- 
terpretations were stated as having been given 
by some previous commentators, and that the 
author had attempted to set them aside, and 
to establish what he regarded as the true 



• EEY. DR. TURNER. 119 

meaning. The reviewer, like very many of 
Ms brethren, had lightly skimmed over the 
book without diving below its surface. 

At a meeting of the trustees held on July 
twenty- seventh, 1824, "a communication from 
the South-Carolina trustees," signed by Bishop 
Bowen and six other gentlemen, was read, re- 
commending "that measures be adopted for 
providing the Seminary as soon as possible, 
with its own proper habitation," and propos- 
ing to erect a suitable edifice on the ground 
given by Professor Moore. On the following 
day it was resolved to erect such a building, 
and a committee of &ve was " appointed to re- 
port the proper measures for carrying the reso- 
lution into effect." On the twenty-eighth of 
July, 1825, "the trustees assembled at the resi- 
dence of Professor Moor^, and with the faculty, 
students, clergy, and an assemblage of citizens, 
■formed a procession to the site of the intended 
building, where after an address and prayers 
by the Presiding Bishop, the corner-stone was 
laid by him, assisted by Bishop Kemp, Bishop 
Croes, and Bishop Brownell." In the address 
Bishop White expresses his joy on the occa- 
sion. At the same time he declares that " he 
would deprecate the laying of one stone upon 
another, and would mthdi-aw his hand from 



120 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF • 

the laying of tlie first stone, if he could foresee 
that in the instruction to be given in the build- 
ing, there would at any future time — at pre- 
sent there is no danger of it — be a departure 
from those properties of system, in doctrine, 
in discipline, and in worship, which in the 
sixteenth century were cleared from supersti- 
tion by the leaders in the English Eeforma- 
tion, were brought to the colonies, recognized 
by us in the organization of our American 
Church, and under the influence of the grace 
of God, have been persevered in by us to the 
present day." This allusion to the errors . of 
Popery, and avowal of the fundamental princi- 
ples of Protestantism, as recognized by the re- 
formed Church of England, are entirely in 
harmony with the sentiments and feeling 
which were habitually cherished by this most 
distinguished Bishop of our Church. He then 
proceeds to " request every person present to 
put up a mental prayer to the Bestower of all 
good, so to govern the minds of those who 
now or who may hereafter superintend the 
studies of the Institution, as that they may 
furnish the gold, the silver, and the j^recious 
stones of sound doctrine, to the exclusion of 
the wood, the hay, and the stubble of human 
imperfection, and that the labors to be be- 



EEV. DE. TURNER. 121 

stowed may endure tlie fire of that great day 
wMcIl sliall try every man's work of wliat sort 
it is." The service of the occasion was con- 
cluded with the Lord's Prayer, some appro- 
priate collects, and a prayer for the Seminary. 

In the year 1825 I formed an acquaintance 
with Mary Esther, second daughter of Burrage 
Beach, Esq,, of Cheshire, Connecticut. The 
loveliness both of person and character, which 
made this dear one a favorite with all who 
knew her, soon produced in me its natural re- 
sult, and I became deeply attached to her. To 
my great joy she, reciprocated the feeling, and 
on the twenty-third of May, 1826, we were 
married in Cheshire by the Bev. Tillotson 
Bronson, D.D., an old friend of the family. 
My domestic happiness was now completed, 
and I seemed to myself to have become a new 
and settled man. I felt now that my motives 
to industry were increased, and that I never 
could do enough to show my gratitude to di- 
vine Providence, and my love to one who had 
consented to become my companion and com- 
forter through life. 

The erection of the Seminary building, the 

corner-stone of which had been laid in 1825, 

was delayed for a considerable time, so that it 

was not in a condition to be occupied until 

G 



122 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

late in the spring of 182T. It is the present 
east building, about one hundred feet long and 
fifty deep. Each end is a convenient house for 
a professor, the west being that which I se- 
lected for a dwelling, and the middle part so 
arranged as to provide rooms in the basement 
for the janitor's family, and a large apartment 
on the left of the hall for a library. The re- 
maining portion is divided into rooms for the 
students. The edifice is rather unsightly. A. 
rude attempt was made to give it something 
of a Gothic appearance by supplying it \vith 
eight rough buttresses, and attaching wooden 
fixtures like muUions outside of very plain win- 
dow-sashes with square angles. The shingled 
roof was surrounded by a wooden parapet, 
and the eight buttresses terminated by wood- 
en conical turrets. These and other similar 
appendages have since been removed. Bishop 
Hobart, who had not been on the ground, from 
the time that the corner-stone was laid, until I 
had become established in the house appropri- 
ated to me, having been, during part of the 
time, in Europe, expressed in my hearing his 
feelings of disappointment in brief but most 
marked language. Those who are acquainted 
with the present site and appearance of the 
Seminary, will be surprised to learn that the 



REV. DR. TURNER. 123 

building lay in a hollow. The carriage-en- 
trance thereto, which was in what is now the 
Ninth Avenue, about half-way between Twen- 
tieth and Twenty-first streets, was about fifteen 
feet higher than the spot on which the edifice 
stood, and in some places the ground was eigh- 
teen feet above it. We drove down the short 
hill through a small apple-orchard, and riding 
behind the building came round in front of 
the west entrance. There was then no street 
in the neighborhood. We were in the coun- 
try, and the village of Greenwich lay between 
us and the city. One southern road led into it, 
which is the present Ninth Avenue and Hud- 
son street, and another called Love Lane, (now 
Twenty-first street,) ran an easterly course to 
the Bloomingdale road. The Hudson Kiver at 
high tide washed what is now the Tenth Aye- 
nue, and even a portion of the lot east of it. 
During the winter the water was sometimes 
ankle deep in front of the house, so that in 
order to have a dry access to the lecture-room, 
in the centre of the building, I had a door cut 
through the garret partition. One winter the 
mud was so deep immediately around the 
building as to make it almost inaccessible, ex- 
cept on horseback or in a carriage. At the 
time that I removed into the Seminary build- 



124 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ing there was hardly a good three-story brick 
house all the way to Canal street. In course 
of time the grounds were reduced to the pre- 
sent level, which is considerably above that 
of the adjoining streets ; the low lots on the 
river, and even a considerable distance into it, 
were filled in, and the whole block beautifully 
ornamented with trees and shrubbery. For 
the last-mentioned improvement we were in- 
debted to IVIr. James MacFarlan, a leading and 
active member of the Board. 

I must now go back to mention some other 
matters of a private nature. It was not until 
the year 1819 or 1820, after I had entered 
upon the duties of my professorship in the 
Seminaiy, that I began to learn the French 
language under a native instructor in New- 
York. Four or Rve years after, I commenced 
the study of German, along with the Kev. 
Manton Eastburn, who at that time was assist- 
ant minister to Dr. Lyell, in Christ Church. 
Our teacher was a highly-respected Lutheran 
clergyman, of German extraction, though a 
native of Philadelphia, and a good scholar, 
well known and esteemed in the community. 
But he lacked one all-important qualification 
of a teacher, namely, ability to communicate 
knowledge with clearness and definiteness. 



EEY. DE. TURNER. 125 

We left tim, therefore, at the expirafcion of 
one quarter, and I pursued tlie study for a 
time alone, and afterwards with the assistance 
of a native, who, however, showed the same in- 
competency. The importance of this language 
to readers in general, and particularly to a 
biblical student, induced me to devote much 
time to it. I only regret that my attention 
had not been directed to this and other modern 
languages earlier in life. 

Having been appointed, by the General Con- 
vention, a membei: of a committee to prepare 
and submit for their action a suitable collec- 
tion of Hymns to be used in public worship, 
and also to make selections for the same pur- 
pose from Tate and Brady's version of the 
Psalms, with such alterations as might be 
thought necessary or expedient — in 1825 or '26 
— I employed some of my leisure time in at- 
tending to this duty. With the version before 
mentioned I compared carefully our Bible 
and Common Prayer Book translations; also 
Dathe's Latin Translation, and the Septuagiut 
and Hebrew. I think, also, that I made use 
of Luther's German. The result of these com- 
parisons I embodied in certain communications 
which were published in one of our Church 
periodicals of the day. I was thus enabled to 



126 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

suggest alterations in tlie language, and occa- 
sionally in the sentiment of tliat portion of 
the old metrical Psalter which is still in use ; 
and as several of them were adopted by the 
Committee, and incorporated into the version, 
I presume that' they may be regarded as im- 
provements. 

An alumnus of the Seminary, William R. 
Whittingham, who, while a pupil, had distin- 
guished himself for careful preparation, thor- 
ough research, and conscientious discharge of 
every duty, and who, since his admission into 
the ministry, has further distinguished himself 
as a prominent man, in the highest ecclesiasti- 
cal body of the Church, assented to a proposal 
of cooperating with me in prcDaring for the 
press a translation of Jahn's Introduction to 
the Old Testament. The author's Latin work 
was made the basis, but the larger German 
was also carefully examined, and a considerable 
proportion of its more important matter was 
incorporated partly in the text, but chiefly in 
notes. The translators also appended notes 
of their own, and in those cases particularly, 
where they thought it important to correct cer- 
tain loose or doubtful views of the author. 
Once, at the urgent request of Mr. Whitting- 
ham, I consented to add the initial of my 



KEY. DR. TURNER. 127 

name to a note of some length, wMcli I had 
prepared on the Samaritan Pentateuch. Both 
translation and notes, however, were through- 
out examined by both of us, and in the Preface 
we acknowledged ourselves " responsible for 
every part." The book was published by the 
CarviEs, in an octavo volume of five hundred 
and forty-six pages. So little interest has been 
taken in the critical study of the Old Testa- 
ment that a second edition has never been 
published. Yet it embodies more biblical in- 
formation relating to the Old Testament than 
any other book of its size. 

On the seventeenth of October, 1827, about 
six months after our establishment in the Semi- 
nary building, our first child was born. She 
was baptized by the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart, 
D.D., on Sunday afternoon, December thirtieth, 
1827, in the Chapel of the Theological Semi- 
nary, and named after her maternal grand- 
mother, Julia Beach. The prayer, which, on 
recording her birth in the folio edition of the 
Bible, Edinburgh, 1793, which came to me with 
other books of my father's, I also recorded, 
namely, " that we may educate her as a good 
Christian and acccomplished woman, and that 
God may spare her to be a comfort to our 
future years," the wise Controller of all things 



128 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 

thouglit it best not to grant. This onr first 
cMld was taken to her heavenly Father on the 
second of April, a quarter after two a.m., 1831. ; 
She died of scarlet fever, after a short illness 
of thirty-five hours, on the morning after Good 
Friday, having been apparently quite well the 
day before. She was an interesting and lovely 
child, of more than ordinary intelligence for 
her years, and very sweet and amiable in 
her disposition. Her remarkable precocity 
of mind, the tenacity of her memory, which 
enabled her to retain many hymns and little 
poetic pieces taught her by her mother and 
aunts, and her admiration of the beauties of 
nature, which she would often express when 
observing a glorious sunset, made her attrac- 
tive to and beloved by all our friends. The 
last articulate sounds that she uttered were 
those of the Lord's Prayer. Her death was a 
heavy blow to us, but I may truly say that we 
both acquiesced in the will of God, assured 
that His providential dispensation must be 
right, however inadequately we could see its 
true scope and purpose. 

The long room, in the middle part of the 
Seminary, which was appropriated for a Libra- 
ry, and which is still used for the same pur- 
pose, was the professors' only lecture and reci- 



BEV. DR. TURNER. 129 

tation-room. There we generally attended tlie 
classes, accommodating each other as to time. 
Subsequently, however, we found it necessary to 
make use of one of the basement rooms, which 
had been occupied by the janitor, and is so still. 
As the walls of the Library afforded more 
than ample space for the books, and conse- 
quently the whole middle part was free. Dr. 
Wilson and myself, the same year that I re- 
moved to the Seminary, established there a 
regular Sunday-morning service. It was at- 
tended by our families, also by that of Pro- 
fessor Moore, who resided in the immediate 
neighborhood, by the students, and some of the 
residents of the vicinity. A Sunday-school 
was soon formed, in which several of the stu- 
dents took an active part. Some ladies also 
showed a lively interest in this good work; 
among whom may be mentioned Dr. Moore's 
two elder daughters. Miss Martin, who super- 
intended Dr. Wilson's domestic establishment, 
and my sister Eliza. The school became very 
flourishing, and the little congregation in- 
creased, so that in a few years a parish was 
organized. St. Peter's Chapel was built; and 
the Eev. Benjamin I. Haight, who had just 
finished his course in the Seminary, took 
charge of the congregation in 1831 or '32. He 
6* 



130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

was succeeded by an English clergyman, the 
Eev. Mr. Pyne, and lie by Dr. Hugh Smith, 
in the commencement of whose rectorship St. 
Peter's Church was built, the chapel being 
altered into a house for the rector. Thus the 
few people who assembled for worship in the 
Library, and the Sunday scholars who were 
there taught, were the nucleus of the congre- 
gation of that church. 

During my previous residence in the city 
and afterwards at the Seminary I devoted my 
leisure time principally to study, reviewed a 
good many Latin classics, read Homer's Iliad 
through, kept up a regular course of German 
reading, especially in Schiller, with a large por- 
tion of whose works I became quite familiar, 
studied the Old Testament in Hebrew, with 
the Chaldee portions, also attended to the 
Syriac language, and read in it the Gospel of 
St. John, and some other parts of the New 
Testament. During the same time I devoted 
much attention to Rabbinic. I made unassisted 
efforts to read and understand the Commenta- 
ries of Jarchi and D. Kimchi, but found them, 
especially the former, wholly dark and unintel- 
ligible. After some time I procured the aid of 
a well-instructed Polish Jew, Posnanski, and 
again of a German named Barschall, a good 



EEV. DE. TUENER. 181 

Eabbinical scholar, wlio endeavored to make 
me pay fifty dollars for ten hours' instruction, 
but was obliged to content bimself witli half 
tbe amount. After a while I became acquaint- 
ed with Dr. Nordheimer, the author of a val- 
uable Hebrew Grammar, who unhappily was 
cut off in the midst of a career of literary 
biblical usefulness. He was a deeply -read 
Jew, an honorable man, who made no pretense 
of a conversion to Christianity, although he 
was by no means an advocate of Talmudical 
fables and extravagance. We read together 
some time, and I also began with him the 
study of Arabic. In course of time, I read by 
myself Locman's Fables, and two Suras of the 
Koran, making use of Kosegarten's Glossary, 
and Giggeio's Lexicon in four folio volumes. 
This last work I imported from England, hav- 
ing seen it announced for sale in a London cat- 
alogue. It is dedicated to the Holy Ghost, the 
author of the gift of tongues ! I had a fine 
copy of Marracci's Koran, which has become 
exceedingly scarce. I regret very much that, 
after some years, the pressure of various duties, 
together with other circumstances, led me to 
neglect the study of these languages. I believe 
that the practice of reading a Rabbinical com- 
mentary, in rather small print, at night, weak- 



132 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ened my eyes. A painful attack, occasioned 
by a cold, lasting about ten days, compelled me 
to use tliem with great caution and moderation, 
and soon after I was obliged to resort to 
spectacles. In general, however, I have been 
greatly blessed with good sight ; for which I 
desire to be duly thankful. 



KEY. DR. TUENEE. 133 



CHAPTER VII. 

Clerical Association in New- York — Object of it — Constitution 
— Bishop Hobart's Attack upon it — Dr. Turner's Reply — 
The Course pursued by the Members — Erroneous Impres- 
sions — ^Essays, etc., in Biblical Literature. 

In the spring of tlie year 1829, an unpleas- 
ant affair occurred, whicli I tMnk proper to 
relate somewliat in detail, inasmucli as its his- 
tory and development involve some principles 
of importance. 

A few of my clerical brethren, feeling desir- 
ous of contributing to their mutual improve- 
ment, both in religious character and theologi- 
cal knowledge, agreed to meet each other at 
stated times to converse on some topic of di- 
vinity, or religion, or pastoral duty, previously 
proposed and adopted for consideration. The 
members were to assemble in turn at each 
other's houses, take tea together, and after unit- 
ing in prayer — appropriate selections having 
been made from an English publication — com- 
municate their respective views and thoughts 
upon the particular point which had been pre- 
viously agreed on. In order to carry out their 
object the more effectually, they adopted the 



134 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

following very simple Constitution, and .had a 
moderate number of copies printed, together 
^vith the forms of prayer, for the use of the 
members : 

CONSTITUTIO]^. 

^'Article 1. This Association shall be called 
The JProtestant Episcopal Clerical Association 
of the City of New - Yorh^ and shall have for 
its object the promotion of the personal piety 
and the official usefulness of its members, by 
devotional exercises, and by conversation on 
missionary and such other religious subjects, as 
may conduce to mutual edification. 

"'Ao'ticle 2. There shall be attached to this 
Association a Secretary, who shall be one of 
the members. He may be elected annually, 
and shall continue in office until a successor be 
chosen. It shall be his duty to keep a record 
of the members of the Association, the times 
and places of its meetings, the subjects consid- 
ered, and such other things as may from time 
to time be directed. He shall call special meet- 
ings of the Association at the request of any 
three of its members. 

^Ai'ticle 3. None but clergymen of the Pro- 
testant Episcopal Church may be members of 
this Association. Any such clergyman in the 



REV. DR. TURNER. 135 

city of IsTew-York, or its vicinity, may become 
a member by signifying bis disposition in writ- 
ing to the Secretary, witb his approbation of 
tbe nature and object of tbe Association. Any 
member bas liberty to invite a Protestant Epis- 
copal minister, not resident in the city of New- 
York or its vicinity, to attend any of tbe regu- 
lar meetings of the Association. 

^^ Article 4. Every meeting of tbe Associa- 
tion sball be opened and concluded with a 
form of prayer; and the member at whose 
house the meeting is held shall preside. 

'''"Article 5. This Constitution may be alter- 
ed only by a vote of two thirds of the mem- 
bers of the Association." 

The whole number of clergymen thus as- 
sociating was ten, alphabetically as follows: 
the Rev. Drs. or Messrs. Cruse, Eastburn, 
Evan Johnson, Mcllvaine, Milnor, Muhlenberg, 
Schroeder, Seabury, Turner, and Wainwright. 
As the Association continued in existence a 
very short period, it received no accessions. 

The prospect of meeting such a friendly and 
fraternal company, for a purpose so good and 
laudable, was very gratifying to me. I. had 
long thought that the clergy of the Episcopal 
Church did not sufficiently confer together in 



136 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

reference to tlie practical duties of their j)ro- 
fession, and to their own advancement in theo- 
logical knowledge. I had no doubt that more 
frequent and familiar intercourse, and a free 
and . friendly interchange of sentiment, would 
tend to bring out the numerous important 
points in which they agreed, and, by a clear 
exposition of the varied phraseology in use, 
would show also that the real differences of 
opinion were neither numerous nor weighty. 
The few occasions on which I was present with 
the Association were very agreeable, and, as it 
appeared to me, gave decided evidence of a 
useful tendency, both in imparting information 
and in eliciting thought and knowledge. 

The Society had been in operation only a 
few weeks, when, to my utter surprise and 
amazement, the Bishop of the diocese issued 
a pastoral letter addressed to its clergy and 
laity, objecting to the Association, and warn- 
ing against it. In private conversation with 
Drs. Milnor and Wainwright, the Bishop had 
" unofficially'''' objected to the formation of 
such an association. As my residence was then 
in a very retired position, I had not heard of 
his expressed opposition, and therefore, when 
his published letter came to me, I actually 
looked twice at the title before I could feel sat- 



EEV. DR. TUENER. 137 

isfied tliat our Clerical Association was wliat 
lie intended to denounce. That an Association 
in itself so harmless, and in its tendencies so 
beneficial, should have been publicly attacked 
by the highest ecclesiastical authority of the 
diocese, and held up as a thing to be shunned, 
appeared scarcely credible. 

After noting the definite name, " The Associ- 
ation," as a " title" which '' a minority of the 
clergy have thought themselves warranted in 
assuming for their Association, of which the 
Bishop and a large majority of the Protestant 
Episcopal clergy of the city have declined be- 
ing or are not members," and making some 
general introductory remarks, the letter pro- 
ceeds to give the diocesan's reasons for consid- 
ering the plan of such an association " inexpe- 
dient and unnecessary y 

" 1. Though every clergyman should aim at 
the greatest piety and zeal, and with this view 
should devote himself, habitually and earnest- 
ly and fervently, to private reading, medita- 
tion, and prayer, and should avail himself of 
occasional opportunities of counsel and con- 
verse with his brethren ; yet, organized clerical 
associations for prayer and spiritual conversa- 
tion, and expounding of Scripture, have a 
strong tendency to become the theatres of spir- 



138 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

itual vanity and ostentation, and of that pecu- 
liar and artificial language of religion, which is 
significantly denoted by the term cantj and 
than which, there is not any thing more offens- 
ive to the delicacy, simplicity, and purity of 
genuine piety. 

2. "In these associations, excitement is the 
object." This being presumed, the inference is 
thus stated: "The heats of enthusiasm will 
soon influence religious conversation; reason 
may remonstrate — ^but what is the still, small 
voice of reason amidst the storms of enthusi- 
asm ?" Appeal is made to " the history of the 
Church of England in the reigns of Elizabeth 
and the first Charles," with a special reference 
to the celebrated ^'' prophesying s^^ and also to 
the rise of Methodism. 

3. The Bishop expresses his approbation of 
" conversation on religious subjects, in the ordi- 
nary course of those occasional meetings which 
clergymen always have;" but objects to it at 
" a meeting organized with its presiding officer, 
its secretary, its book of minutes, etc., etc., in 
which I must talk spiritually, in which I am to 
'prepare to talk spiritually, in which the emu- 
lation may be, who can talk most spiritually. 
Well will it be, if discussion begun for ' mutu- 
al edification,' does not end in mutual strife." 



EEV. DK. TURNER. 189 

4. He objects cMefly to sucli associations, be- 
cause " they may be made the powerful instru- 
ments of intrigue^ and engines of jpartyT He 
does not assert, however, that " such is the ten- 
dency or design of the particular" one in ques- 
tion, or even the " capability of any individual 
connected with it." Only supposing an impe- 
tus to be given, and "the power that gives it 
to be acquired by one or more members of these 
associations, and who will say that they will 
not be made the instruments of faction ? Most 
are they to be dreaded under the popular form 
in which, in many respects, our Church is in 
this country organized. Our bishops are elect- 
ive; various officers intrusted with important 
duties, standing committees, etc., etc., are elect- 
ive. It is of great importance to guard against 
the operations of faction and party influence." 

5. Another objection is thus expressed : 
"These associations for promoting personal 
piety and mutual edification, by devotional 
exercises and religious conversation, etc., will 
become not only the instruments, but the invi- 
dious hadges oi party. Those who engage in 
them, however they may disclaim the represen- 
tation, will be held up as more evangelical, 
more spiritual, more devoted to their Master's 
service, than those who do not avail themselves 



140 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

of these plausible means of j)ersonal piety and 
mutual edification." The Bishop argues against 
such an association, because it may .produce 
evils of the kind stated. He had expected 
that the intention of forming the Association 
would be abandoned in consequence of his pri- 
vate representation made to the two clergymen 
before mentioned. " On the ministers of Christ 
this ready relinquishment of whatever is not 
essential^ in deference to the wishes, the feel- 
ings, and the characters of a respectable por- 
tion of their brethren, and of him who is set 
over them in the Lord, seemed to him an im- 
perative act of delicacy, kindness, and duty, 
not permitting a moment's hesitatiou." 

The above is a condensed bnt faithful state- 
ment of all the reasoning contained in the pas- 
toral letter, and expressed, for the most part, in 
its own words. 

On the appearance of the pastoral letter, the 
Association thought it right to publish the 
Constitution and prayers, which before had 
been " printed exclusively for their own use, 
and, with the exception of half a-dozen copies 
at most, retained in their own possession." To 
them were now prefixed a few " Prefatory Re- 
marks." These remarks gave occasion to a 
pamphlet issued under the title : " A Yindica- 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 141 

tion of the Pastoral Letter from tlie Animad- 
versions contained in the ^ Prefatory Kemarks,' " 
etc. Some mistakes in point of fact and doc- 
trine in the Vindication, were corrected in an 
addition appended to "the Account," a notice 
of whicli will immediately be given. 

In consequence of this puhlicly announced 
opposition of the Bishop, Dr. Wainwright, 
who had been on terms of close intimacy with 
him, and who was the rector of Grace Church, 
thought it a duty to relinquish his connection 
with the Society. Mr. Schroeder also, being as- 
sociated with the Bishop as an assistant minis- 
ter of Trinity Parish, felt himself to be in a 
very delicate position. It was apprehended too, 
and not without reason, that if the Association 
were continued, notwithstanding the avowed 
opposition of the Bishop and such of the clergy 
as harmonized with him on the subject, it could 
hardly fail to become the organ of a party. 
For now no clergymen would attach them- 
selves to it, who were not ready or willing to 
come in collision with the Bishop, and there- 
fore any accession which it might hereafter 
gain, would be altogether of Churchmen of one 
particular stamp. The members were unwill- 
ing to subject the Association to such a dilem- 
ma, and therefore they came to the conclusion 



142 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

that, simply on the ground of expediency, it 
would be best to dissolve it. The nature of 
this reason, as it involved a point of extreme 
delicacy, they could not fully develop and pub- 
lish freely to the world. This would have 
been to proclaim their reluctance that the As- 
sociation should be composed almost exclusive- 
ly of one of the two leading classes. Yet I 
know that this consideration had no slight 
weight in determining their judgment as to 
the expediency of dissolving. 

But they could not think of dissolving with- 
out vindicating what they had done. It was 
therefore determined to issue a publication to 
this effect, and to defend the Association from 
the Bishop's objections. The obligation of pre- 
paring the reply was imposed on me. I under- 
took it, as the agent and spokesman of the 
union, and because I felt it to be a serious duty 
to give publicity to what I then believed and 
do now believe to be the simple truth of the 
case. I spoke my mind respectfully but plain- 
ly, claiming what I regarded as every sincere 
and intelligent Christian man's right, which, 
also, the Reformation had recognized, and 
showing the inadequacy of the reasoning in 
the pastoral letter. When the paper was read 
to the members, some expressions were thought 



EEV. DE. TUENER. 143 

to be too strong, and therefore objected to by 
Dr. Milnor, and one or two others. They were 
consequently modified. Mr. Seabury's opinion 
was, that the statements were not strong 
enough. In other respects also he seemed to 
think that the paper needed alteration. At 
my request, he took and examined it, but re- 
turned it unaltered. Subsequently, in a very 
friendly letter which he wrote me, and which 
I shall have occasion hereafter to quote, he 
thanks me for what I had done, and ex- 
presses a "high degree of satisfaction at the 
manner in which it had been executed." With 
such modifications as have been alluded to, the 
paper was accepted, and directed to be publish- 
ed with the following title : " Account of the 
True Nature and Object of the late Protestant 
Episcopal Clerical Association of the City of 
New- York, together with a Defense of the Asso- 
ciation from objections which have been urged 
against it, and an explanation of the reasons 
which have led to its dissolution. By the 
Members of the Associatioist. ' Let every man 
be fully persuaded in his own mind.' St. 
Paul." I shall endeavor to give a brief but 
fair statement of its contents. 

The publication begins by requesting of the 
"reader a candid examination of the subject, 



144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

with unbiassed reflection on its nature, on tlie 
principles it involves, and on tlie results to 
which it leads." It states the motives which 
produced it : " We have no intention or wish 
to disturb the harmony of the Church. Those 
who have known us longest and most intimate- 
ly will, we are confident, do us justice on this 
point; and against some of us calumny has 
never dared to make the charge. 

" Neither do we wish to wound the feelino-s 

o 

or lessen the proper and legitimate influence of 
the Bishop. Could we effect such an object, 
its attainment would recoil upon ourselves with 
tenfold force, and injury inflicted on the head 
would effectually destroy the members." 

After disavowing any desire " to gratify cor- 
rupt and malignant, passions," the positive mo- 
tives are stated. 

1. "A sacred regard to truth;" a wish to 
correct " impressions with respect to the nature 
of the Association" which are "entirely un- 
founded, and views strangely and grossly erro- 
neous." 

2. "An lionoraUe reo-ard to our own char- 
acters and influence; the esteem of wise and 
good men" being of "intrinsic value, and the 
respect of the members of (our) Church abso- 
lutely essential to our usefulness." 



REV. DR. TURNER. 115 

3. "An affectionate regard to tlie pious part 
of our ecclesiastical commumty." In connec- 
tion witli tMs point, a reference is made, bear- 
ing on tlie application of tlio term cant^ wMcIi 
is represented as "the legitimate offspring of 
ignorance and fanaticism, whetlier it be asso- 
ciated with, the most ardent piety, when it is 
misnamed religious^ or whether it is leagued 
on the side of indecision, indulgence, and sin, 
when it is properly to be denominated the cant 
of the worlds 

4. " A sincere regard for the best interests of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
States. Any aberration from her moderate 
and conciliatory principles, any deviation from 
her enlarged spirit and noble magnanimity, 
shown by dii'ectly or indirectly discouraging 
the exercise of rights, which neither her princi- 
ples or usages' have ever withheld from her 
clergy in general, would be injurious to her 
influence and extension any where, and espe- 
cially in such a country as ours." 

The account then proceeds to state "the 
object of the Association," and the desire of 
several clergymen, among whom was the late 
rector of St. Thomas's Church, the Rev. Corne- 
lius Duffle, for such meetings. The Bishop's 
advice was given in friendship^ and was never 



146 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

regarded in any other light than as a private 
expression of opinion. The publication of " his 
pastoral letter without any communication 
with the Association, either orally or in writ- 
ing," was " not merely to the surprise but to 
the utter astonishment of every member, some 
of whom would not believe the rumor of its 
publication when it reached them." Then fol- 
low the Constitution, and a brief specimen of 
the minutes of a meeting; introduced to cor- 
rect known misapprehensions, which had been 
received, if not misstatements which had been 
cu^culated. 

" The members " then proceed to " point out 
to the reader the objects which the Associa- 
tion had in view." 

The "first was to promote piety in them- 
selves, in their brethren, and thus indirectly in 
their congregations." They repel the charge 
of intimating want of it in theu' brethren, 
but maintain that, " however great may be the 
piety of the clergy, it is for the good of them- 
selves and of the Church at large, to be habit- 
ually increasing it." 

Their "second object was, to improve in 
knowledge connected with their profession." 
The importance of such improvement is illus- 
trated. " Suj)erficial knowledge is sui'e to pro- 



EEV. DE. TURNER. - 147 

duce superficial preaching, because it can not 
instruct, and consequently can not permanently 
impress a rational creature." 

"Another object" hoped for was, "the pro- 
motion of harmony of feeling, of character, 
and, in a measui^e, of views of Christian doc- 
trine. The members did not doubt that good 
men, of different views, by being brought to- 
gether, might be led to form a more favorably 
estimate of each other's character, and that 
thus a spirit of conciliation would be mutually 
excited, unkind suspicions removed, and charity 
enkindled in each breast." 

Such being "the nature and objects of the 
Association," they ask whether "it is really 
necessary to defend it? With an object ac- 
hnowledged to he good^ ivitJi ties of unity con- 
fessedly of the strongest hind^ with no other 
prayers than such as are granted to he adapted 
to the end in view^ might it not have heen expect- 
ed that something should have heen yielded to 
the influence of gentlemanly and Christian feel- 
ings^ cooperating with assistance from ahove^ 
to restrain any memher of such an Association 
from running into the evils assumed to he its 
natural result ? We are compelled to regard 
the subject in a very different light from our 
diocesan." 



148 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Dr. Wainwriglit's letter is tlien given in full, 
containing the reasons of his determination to 
leave the Association. A few observations. on 
the letter are appended, with the view of doing 
justice to the writer, and also of presenting cer- 
tain points in which the members dissented 
from him. It states also the reasons which led 
them to dissolve the institution. The discon- 
nection of Dr. Wainwright would tend to pre- 
vent accessions to the body. They would be 
subjected to censure for continuing in opposi- 
tion to the Bishop's publicly expressed wish, 
and exposed to the charge of party feeling. 
The pastoral letter would, no doubt, become 
the occasion of frustrating the main purposes 
of the organization. "Such are our reasons 
for dissolving. Not that we are convinced of 
the injurious tendency of the Association ; not 
that we admit the obligation of acquiescing in 
the views of the Bishop, on matters left free 
to individual judgment by the wisdom of the 
Church; not that we admit that, in conse- 
quence of the dilemma in which the pastoral 
letter placed us, more evil than good would 
necessarily have resulted from continuing. We 
do not thereby consider ourselves as in any 
measure pledged to form no similar association, 
so long as the laws of the Church leave us in 



REV. DR. TURNER. 149 

this respect free to exercise our own judg- 
ments. Legislative enact'iiients we will always 
obe.y, provided they are not opposed to the 
requisitions of our consciences." 

The members of the Association felt that a 
proper sense of self-respect required them to 
vindicate themselves " from the charges that 
had been brought against them." They begin 
by noting ^'the impression which the pastoral 
letter of a Bishop, printed and published, will 
naturally produce on a large body of the com- 
munity. In the present case it must tend to 
our disadvantage. We do not speak of its de- 
sign; we speak of its tendency. ISTo man can 
doubt, for a moment, that the expression of dis- 
approbation, through such a channel, is virtually 
a pullic admonition^ 

They then take up the various objections, 
as before given from the pastoral letter under 
their respective numbers. Previously, how- 
ever, they set aside the censure on the title, 
by remarking, that, if the indefinite article had 
been used it might have given rise to the in- 
quiry, " Is this only one of several clerical as- 
sociations? or, is it in conte7nplation to form 
other such f and also that other societies are 
designated in the same way, as, for instance 
^^ The Literary and Philosophical Society — The 



150 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Historical Society ;" sucli j)liraseology- being 
sanctioned by usage. 

1. The fact of the Association beino^ oro:an- 
ized does not prove it to have the tendency 
with which it is charged. There is no " connec- 
tion between organization and canty The evils 
apprehended naay exist as well " without a con- 
stitution as with one, in ^ occasional "* meetings 
of the clergy as in regular ; in conversation on 
religious topics when a party of clergymen 
meet incidentally, as when they meet for the 
purpose. The truth is, the consequence of 
which the Bishop tlius expresses his apprehen- 
sion, is only to be feared upon the supposi- 
tion that the clergy should become a set of ig- 
norant enthusiasts." Had there been no con- 
stitution, " what pledge would we have given 
to each other or to the Church, that our ^ As- 
sociation' should be ^Protestant,' or 'Episco- 
pal,' or ' clerical ? ' How could we have pro- 
vided against the admission of non-Episcopal 
members V If " nothing had been determined 
as to the manner in which the devotions should 
be conducted, would it not hav§ been objected 
with reason, that we were not at all solicitous 
to conform to the usages of our own Church 2 
that we had taken no pains to guard against 



REV. DR. TURNER. 151 

the miscMefs whicli would flow from indiscrim- 
inate extemporaneous prayer?" 

2. The second objection is set aside by deny- 
ing that such extravagant results are ^'reason- 
ably to be expected from clergymen of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church meeting at stated 
times, under the simplest of constitutions, for 
the harmless purpose of praying together with 
a form, of conversing together, as men of tol- 
crably good sense at least, on subjects con- 
nected with their profession." The excitement 
aimed at is not animal^ but that " of religious 
thougJit and sensibility^ The cases referred to 
in the history of England are totally different 
from the present, and therefore irrelevant. 

3. This objection is like the first. "As to 
any obligation to talk spiritually, we remark 
that all conversation is voluntary, being neither 
more nor less than the intercourse of friends. 
As to the inference drawn from 'preparing to 
talk spiritually,' it proves too much." Carried 
to its legitimate extent, it would sanction the 
objection of Quakers to " our church service." 
^ Discussion may end in strife.' This " we can 
not deny. But we must not be expected to 
see force in arguments founded on possibilities. 
According to such a method of reasoning, we 
ask, what institution^ divine or human, can 



162 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

escape censure ? If tlie abuse of a thing- is an 
an argument against its use, every thing is over 
thrown. Government has been abused, religion 
has been abused, Christianity itself has been 
abused." The cause of the evil is then shown. 
" But we assume in our defense that clergymen 
are not worse than other men." If " physicians, 
gentlemen of the bar, votaries of science or lit- 
erature, associate for purposes" of improvement, 
" are ministers of the Gospel the only set of 
men who are not to be restrained by the cour- 
tesies of life or the influence of their religion ?" 
If this be at all true, then it is " one of the 
strongest reasons in favor of discussion," inas- 
much as it may become the occasion of bring- 
ing them to a better state of mind. 

4. "The argument" of this objection, "is 
founded in the apprehension that the cliar- 
acter of the Association may cliange^ or that 
it might be regarded as a precedent for the 
formation of others, with different objects and 
tendencies^ This is barely a conceivable case, 
but destitute of any probability. The same 
may be conceived of any institution. We 
must trust somewhat to the integrity of man, 
and the superintendence of Providence, to con- 
trol such possible evils. The Bishop's argu- 
ment presumes an impetus in a wrong direc- 



EEY. DE. TUENER. 153 

tion. But " whj should we take it for grant- 
ed that the impetus must be wrong? We ad; 
mit all that the language states. Any associ- 
ation will move with force in the direction of 
the impetus given it. -The argument tahes it 
for granted that the characters of the mem- 
bers, giving the impetus, will be factious." This 
is the very thing to be proved. " The security 
against factioji and all its baleful evils, lies in 
elevating the clerical character both in intellec- 
tual ability and personal religion." 

5. As the reply to the Bishop's remarks un- 
der this head is very full and plain, and as it 
avows some most important principles which 
the members of the Association were prepared 
to claim, defend and act upon, I think it best 
to transcribe almost the whole answer. 

" The reasoning is of this nature. ^ Of a 
number of professional men, a considerable 
proportion or a few, as the case may be, are 
of opinion that certain measures are beneficial, 
and therefore determine to adopt them. Oth- 
ers who think differently, or who, agreeing in 
the beneficial tendency of the measures, are 
nevertheless indisposed to pursue them, object 
that the conduct of the other members of the 
fraternity is in this respect peculiar, that it 
leads to invidious distinctions, etc' Are those 



154 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

men wlio urge this 'argument willing to yield 
to its legitimate consequences ? Who does not 
see that it strikes at the root of all improve- 
ment ? A professor in a. college, must limit 
his studies to the measure of literature re- 
quired by his brethren of the faculty, lest 
he should be suspected of aiming at distinc- 
tion above his equals, and thus give rise to 
jealousies and mutual criminatioi;s. A clergy- 
man in a parish must preach no oftener than 
those of his vicinity, must promote no more 
objects of usefulness than those which they 
think proper to engage in, lest invidious com- 
parisons should be made, and ^ party spirit be 
engendered.' If one clergyman have more 
ability, more strength — whether corporeal or 
mental — ^than another, he is not to use it in 
his Master's service, lest he should thereby be- 
come distinguished among his fellows, and ' be 
held up' as possessed of superior endowments. 
This, we think, is the fair and natural issue 
of the argument. Let it be applied to the 
case of the first clergyman who attempted 
to raise in his congregation a society for dis- 
tributing the Scriptures and Book of Com- 
mon Prayer, or a. Missionary Society, or a 
Bible-class, or even a Sunday-school. If his 
brethren of the vicinity differ from him as to 



EEV. DE. TUENER. 155 

any one of tliese objects, the reasoning migM 
be urged witli tbe same force: 'Those who 
engage in them will be held up as more evan- 
gelical.' 

"There is one point advanced under this 
head to which we respectfully and earnestly 
solicit the attention of our clerical and lay 
brethren. The principle is stated as prescrib- 
ing a correct line of conduct for the clergy to 
pursue. It is comprehended in the following 
sentence : ' On the ministers/ etc., p. 68. 

"Here is a rule of action for the clergy, 
which, together with the laios prescribed by 
the Church, (which all must consider them- 
selves bound to obey^ will never allow them 
to be at a loss as to the course of their duty. 
Is there any matter which the laws of the 
Church have left to individual judgment, and 
does a presbyter wish to know how to con- 
duct himself in relation to it? • He has only 
to consult ' the wishes and feelings of a re- 
spectable portion of his brethren, and of him 
who is set over them,' together with the eifect 
which the object in view may be supposed by 
them jbo have on their ' characters ;' and it be- 
comes an ' imi^evative act of delicacy, kindness, 
and DUTY, not permitting a moment's hesita- 
tion,' to comply with them. How completely 



156 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

by this process is the whole course of minis- 
terial conduct subjected to the will of a few 
individuals, not to say of him who presides ; 
for no man can doubt where, under the circum- 
stances referred to, the ^ deference' is to be shown. 
It will be said, that the doctrine limits its ap- 
plication to matters ^ non-essentiaV But it may 
be asked, what is to be understood by essen- 
tial f It is a relative term, and what is essen- 
tial in reference to one end is indifferent with 
respect to another. It is an inquiry of more 
importance — who is to decide whether a mat- 
ter is essential or not? Not the persons en- 
gaged in it, but the Bishop and such as choose 
to agree with him. Now what is the result 
of such a system ? Plainly this : that not one 
step can he tahen hy any preshyter^ in points 
where the Church has left him free to act ac- 
cording to his own impressions of duty^ ivith- 
out a liability to have his measures reversed. 
Where no law restrains, the opinion of the 
Bishop, especially if supported by ^ a respect- 
able portion ' of the clergy, is propounded with 
an equal claim to deference, upon grounds 
which come home to a man of feeling just in 
proportion as his sensibility gets the better of 
his judgment ; and propounded under peril, 
not of ecclesiastical penalties, for the Church 



EEV. DK. TUKNER. 157 

has threatened none, but of being held up to 
the public as refractory in ' duty,' and ' perti- 
nacious' in zeal. If a few ministers of God 
may not organize themselves into a society, 
not for the purpose of a competition of 'pro- 
phesyings' (so called) before a public assem- 
bly, but for prayer and religious conversation 
in the unostentatious privacy of their own 
dwellings, without causing as great pain to 
the Bishop as any one ^ of the harassing 
events of a trying Episcopate of eighteen 
years has given him ;' and if, upon continu- 
ing the measure after the Bishop's expression 
of his disapprobation, they are to be exposed 
t® a public arraignment before the clergy and 
laity of the Church, it is difficult to conceive 
how any course of conduct, be it ever so blame- 
less, may not become the subject of similar ani- 
madversion." 

The operation of the principle laid down by 
the Bishop is then subjected to two practical 
tests, in order to illustrate its bearing and ope- 
ration. Afterwards the reply proceeds thus : 

" Against such a principle, therefore, we re- 
spectfully but firmly protest. We will yield 
great deference -to the judgments of those who 
are or may be ^set over us in the Lord,' 
whether privately or publicly expressed ; , but 



158 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

we claim tlie right, wliicli tlie Churcli has not 
taken from us, of examining the alleged reasons 
and forming our own opinions." 

In confirmation of the view taken by the 
members of the Association, of the meaning of 
the word " duty," as intended by the Bishop, 
a passage is quoted from a pamphlet, which 
had just been published, entitled: "A Vindica- 
tion of the Pastoral Letter." Speaking of ^Hlie 
deference due to tlie Bishojp^'' the author makes 
these remarks : " Some contend, and very faith- 
fully and uniformly practise upon the princi- 
ple, that even in unessential points no obe- 
dience is due to him; and that his 'admoni- 
tions' and his 'judgment' are in no case, whe^i 
differing from theirs, to be heeded. Is this left 
jfree by the Church to individual judgment 
and discretion ? What is the question of her 
ordination-office? 'Will you reverently obey 
your Bishop and other chief ministers, who, 
according to the canons of the Church, may 
have the charge and government over you, fol- 
lomng with a glad mind and will their godly 
admonitions, and submitting yourself to their 
godly judgments \ ' And what is- the answer 
of the person ordained? 'I :^ill so do, the 
Lord being my helper.' " 

On this passage the comment of the mem- 



REV. DR. TUR^TER. 159 

bers is as follows : " The author seems to us to 
suppose that by this answer the candidate 
pledges himself, explicitly, to ' obey ' his Bishop, 
to ^ follow ' his ' admonitions and submit to his 
judgment.' We have no disposition to with- 
hold any degree of canonical obedience from 
our ecclesiastical superior ; and, without justly 
subjecting ourselves to any such charge, must 
be allowed to maintain, that, in matters not 
provided for by any legislative act of the 
Church, each individual must determine for 
himself whether any particular ^admonition' 
or ^ judgment ' is ' godly,' and act accordingly. 
Let it not be supposed that, by denying such 
admonition or judgment to be ^ godly,' he 
thereby asserts it to be imgodly. It may re- 
gard an indifferent matter, or one in which 
there is evident room for opposite opinions. 
^ Every man ' must ^ be persuaded in liis own 
onind,^ " 

From the view which I have given of the 
origin and character of the Clerical Associa- 
tion, of the objections which were brought 
against it, and of the tenor of the reply, it 
must be evident that the ground taken by the 
Bishop would give him an uncontrolled influ- 
ence, in matters not provided for, either by in- 
herent Episcopal right or by legitimate author- 



160 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ity; and also that tlie members of tlie Asso- 
ciation were unwilling to succumb to such an 
unauthorized claim. I do not doubt that the 
views of the great body of the Episcopal 
clergy accorded with those of "the Defense." 
Indeed one of the most respectable presbyters 
in the Church, who was afterwards advanced 
to the Episcopate, and has, all his life, been 
classed with what are called High-Churchmen, 
understanding that I was preparing a reply to 
the pastoral, told me that the presbyters in 
general would come out on our side. But, 
when the controversy came to its height, they 
thought it most prudent, with a few exceptions, 
not to make their sympathies public. 

The Account and Defense of the Association 
were soon followed by a " Brief jSTotice " of it. 
The name of the author was not given, but it 
was generally ascribed to Bishop Hobart. The 
writer considers the view taken " of the nature 
of the ordination-vow " one " among the many 
extraordinary things in the Account." To show 
how little regard he paid to the right of pri- 
vate judgment in things indifferent, I quote 
the following passage : " Things are good, bad, 
or indifferent. Under the two former are 
classed the things good or bad in themselves, 
or by divine or human prescription." (This is 



EEV. DR. TURNEE. 161 

not very clear, as a question miglit "be raised 
respecting tlie right, bearing, and extent of the 
latter.) "With regard to these, the Bishop 
can not interfere, except so far as legitimately 
to enforce their observance, and in cases of 
doubt to express his judgment. It is to things 
indifferent that the promise of obedience has 
principally reference. In regard to these the 
promise characterizes the admonition and judg- 
ment of the Bishop as 'godly,' making that 
rights proper^ and a matter of duty^ which be- 
fore was indifferent. To suppose that it per- 
mits the individual to determine whether, in 
matters of indifference, the judgment and ad- 
monition of the Bishop be godly or not, is a 
quibble most unworthy of the sacredness of 
the subject. It nullifies the promise, makes it 
words and nothing more." Thus every thing, 
without any exception, may be rightfully and 
authoritatively settled for a clergyman, if it 
shall please his Bishop to give his decision. 
" Things good or bad " come under the head of 
"divine prescription," and are, consequently, 
settled by direct divine law. " Things indiffer- 
ent " are made " matters of duty " by the ex- 
pressed "admonition and judgment" of the 
Bishop. The clergyman's obligation, therefore, 
is settled for every thing, unless his Bishop 



162 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

declines to interfere ! It never seems to have 
occurred to the writer, that " the admonitions 
and judgments " of a Bishop are spoken of, in 
the service, as " godly," on the supposition that 
they would really be so, and be given only in 
cases where a truly religious element is in- 
volved. No: Episcopal "judgment" '•''onakes 
what is indifferent^ a duty ! " ISTo wonder 
that a presbyter, and one whose general theo- 
logical views and course of action accorded 
with the Bishop's, remarked in reference to this 
extravagant claim, that, on such a principle, 
he might expect obedience, if he should re- 
quire his clergy to have all their books bound 
in black ! 

In this connection the writer of the " Brief 
Notice " introduces me by name, as " the author 
of the Account," although its title-page attri- 
butes it to " the members of the Association," 
and I was merely their agent. " He does espe- 
cially wonder that reasoning which appears to 
him so palpably sophistical, should deliberate- 
ly come from the pen of a professor of divinity 
in the Theological Seminary ; for it is no secret 
that the Rev. Dr. Turner is the author of the 
' Account, etc' " Here he refers directly to the 
Seminary, and speaks of the mischief which 
would result from " the students becoming con- 



KEY. DE. TURNER. 163 

verts to tlie opinions of tlie professor." In this 
connection he adds, also, the following note, the 
intended bearing of which is evident enough : 
" It is a curious fact in the history of human 
nature, in its religious character, that those who 
make the highest pretensions to evangelical 
piety, and who therefore ought to excel in the 
evangelical grace of humility, often display 
that restlessness under the influence of even 
lawful authority, that jealousy of superior sta- 
tion, and that extreme solicitude to sink as low 
as possible its powers, and to' yield as little as 
possible to its claims, which are as inconsistent 
with the lofty feelings of the high-minded and 
independent man, as with the lowliness and 
meekness of the Christian." I never replied 
to this announcement of my name, and repre- 
sentation of my character. .1 resolved to live 
out the odium, without taking notice of the 
attack, in the hope that the feelings of all con- 
cerned would gradually become calmed. I was 
quite willing to leave those who knew me per- 
sonally, to form their own judgments as to the 
applicability of the description. I never to 
this day have regretted the part I took in the 
whole affair of the Association, and am still of 
the opinion that the ground taken in " the De- 
fense " is solid. One of the members, Mr. Sea- 



164 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

bury, wrote, on Ms own account, a re-plj to the 
pastoral letter, wMcli I was informed was very 
full, and, to use the author's words, was " a re- 
view of the ^:)r^?^c^}:>fe6' and facts involved." It 
was very particular and pointed, especially in 
reference to the causes which gave occasion to 
the rise of Methodism. It was not without 
much persuasion that he could be induced to 
relinquish the intention of publishing. Dr. 
Wainwright strongly dissuaded him. I con- 
veyed to him my solicitude on the subject, and 
my hope that he would not issue a publication, 
which might contribute to continue excitement ; 
expressing my willingness to bear whatever 
odium might attach to the authorship of " the 
Defense." In reply he wrote me a very kind 
letter, in which he says that " a clergyman and 
a layman in whose judgment he could confide, 
while they approved entirely of all that he 
had written, and were pleased to speak highly 
of some parts of it, yet strenuously advised 
him not to publish." He expresses his "most 
sincere sympathy with me in the treatment I 
had received." He did " not think the author 
ca]3able of" writing what he calls, "most un- 
generous — more so than he would be if he 
would leave his mind to its native workings." 
Of the truth of this last remark I have no 



EEV. DE. TURNER. 165 

doubt. Bishop Hobart's ardent temperament, 
operating upon wliat the same writer calls 
" impracticable principles," and a consciousness 
that he had often been unjustly represented, as 
disposed to exert official power unduly, and 
without proper regard for those who were 
below him in ecclesiastical position, produced 
some excitement, and induced him to use lan- 
guage which, both in its general strain and 
personal application, could not be justified. 
But his warm and affectionate disposition after 
a while resumed its natural influence. For a 
short time a coolness marked our intercourse ; 
but in a few months the whole matter appa- 
rently died away. Each of us knew that en- 
tire sympathy in all the details of ecclesiastical 
matters was not to be expected in the other, 
and avoided the introduction of topics which 
might tend to collision. 

In addition to what I have here written on 
the subject of "The Clerical Association," I 
will add that some persons accused its founders 
of the design of forming an ecclesiastical party, 
by whose influence in the diocese. Dr. Wain- 
wright might be elected Bishop, either assist- 
ant or principal, if any occasion should arise to 
make an appointment desirable or necessary. I 
can only say that I never heard the least inti- 



166 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

mation of sucli a purpose from any member, 
that it is very doubtful to me whether he 
would have been acceptable to some of them, 
and that so unworthy a motive ought not to 
have been imputed to clergymen of character 
and respectability without clear proof Yet I 
know this to have been regarded by some as 
the prominent object of the Association; and 
more than twenty years after the affair, I heard 
the statement made by one of the oldest pres- 
byters of Western New- York. Indeed, "the 
Vindication of the Pastoral Letter " contains a 
passage which shows that the writer was not 
without apprehension that this Association, 
and others also, supposing them to be formed, 
might exert such an elective influence. " Sup- 
pose a vacancy in the Episcopate of this Dio- 
cese shonld occur, is it without the range of 
probability that an event so important and ex- 
citing as the election of a Bishop would not be 
brought under consideration in one or more of 
these associations V I do not know who was 
the author of this Vindication, but it appears 
to contain internal evidence of proceeding from 
the pen of the Bishop, or, at least, of having 
been subjected to his inspection and modifica- 
tion. 

In the year 1828, Messrs. Eastburn and 



KEY. DE. TURNER. -• 167 

Scliroeder, tte former of whom was assistant 
minister of Christ Chtircli, and tlie latter, one 
of those connected with Trinity, formed an as- 
sociation with Mr. Whittingham, then Libra- 
rian of the Seminary, and myself, for mutual 
improvement in Biblical Literature. We met 
once in two weeks, when one of us read a 
paper, which was subjected to the remarks of 
the others. In a short time, our critical stock 
having . somewhat accumulated, we resolved 
to publish a volume, and in 1829 issued from 
the press of the Carvills, Essays and Disserta- 
tions in Biblical Literature^ octavo, pages 567. 
With the . exception of a Life of Bochart by 
Mr. Whittingham, the work consisted of trans- 
lations, the most important of which are those 
by Mr. Eastburn, of Storrs's Dissertation on 
the Kingdom of Heaven, from his Opuscula, 
and Tittmann's Book on Gnosticism.* Mr. 
Schroeder contributed a translation of Eich- 
horn on the Authenticity and Canonical Au- 
thority of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, 
and also of a treatise by John David Michaelis 
on the Study of the Syriac Language. My 
portion consisted of a brief sketch of the his- 
tory of Introductions to the Bible, by Gesenius, 
and also the same author's History of the In- 

* De Vestigiis Gnosticorum in N. T. quse sitis. 



168 • AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

terpretation of Isaiah, translated from tlie In- 
troduction to his Commentary on that prophet. 
Volume I. remains a monument of industrious 
enterprise ; but it met with no success, and a 
second was never ventured. 



EEV. DE. TUENEE. 169 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Elected Professor of Hebrew Language in Columbia College — 
Lectures in the College Chapel— Their Publication — Discour- 
agements — Death of his Daughter — Translation and Pub- 
lication of Professor Planck's Introduction to Theological 
Knowledge, with Notes — Birth of his first Son — Peter Gr. 
Stuyresant's Endowment of a Professorship in the Semina- 
ry — Death of Mrs. Turner — Publication of "Companion to 
the Book of Genesis" — Object of the Work — Criticisms of two 
Church Papers. 

The monotonous tenor of my life, for several 
subsequent years, affords but little worthy of 
notice. In 1830, while efforts were in progress 
to establish the New- York University, Colum- 
bia College thought it expedient to revive her 
old professorship of Hebrew, which many 
years before had been held by the Rev. Dr. 
Kuntze, whom I have had occasion to mention, 
and which had continued vacant since his 
death. Very much to my surprise, the choice 
fell on me, and since that time I have enjoyed 
the title of "Professor of the Hebrew Lan- 
guage and Literature in Columbia College." 
In order to bring the subject of the Professor- 
ship somewhat beiore the public, I delivered, 
in 1831, three lectures in the Chapel of the 
College* They were afterwards printed in the 
■ 8 



170 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Biblical Repository ^Yol. I. No. III. pages 491- 
530, Andover, 1831, under the title, Claims 
of the Hebrew Language and Literature, They 
excited very little interest however, and I 
doubt whether the number of the auditors 
amounted to thirty on any one occasion, al- 
though the lectures were free to all. Scarcely 
any of the clergy attended ; but Bishop Hobart 
was "regularly present. It was my original in- 
tention to continue the course, but I abandoned 
it for want of encouragement. During two or 
three winters I gave gratuitous instruction to 
small classes every Saturday at the Seminary. 
The first class consisted of Messrs. Richard 
Cox, Anthony Ten Broeck, and James A. Wil- 
liams, all of whom afterwards became students 
of the Seminary and clergymen of our Church. 
At the termination of their attendance, they 
kindly presented me with a copy of an edition 
of the Septuagint and Greek Testament in 
three very neat volumes in eighteenmo, with 
the inscription : " To Dr. Samuel H. Turner, 
from his first Hebrew Class in Columbia Col- 
lege, June 22, 1833." As pocket-volumes, I 
have found the work very convenient. After 
a while, however, when IN^rdheimer became 
known as a good Hebrew teacher, I felt it the 
less incumbent on me to devote my time to this 



REV. DR. TURNER. . 171 

object. Since tlien I have never been required 
to give lessons in Hebrew, so that the profes- 
sorship has become a sinecure. 

On Saturday, March sixteenth, 1833, our 
daughter Cornelia, whom, we had fondly 
hoped, God had given us as a substitute for 
our beloved Julia, was attacked with inflam- 
mation of the chest, and on the following 
Wednesday, the twentieth, went to join those 
spirits whose " angels do always behold the 
face of the Father." She was a very sweet 
and lovely child, wanting two days of being 
eighteen months old. Her loss, which left us 
with but one remaining daughter, was too 
deeply felt, both by her mother and myself, 
to be expressed. 

At several biblical meetings with the three 
clergymen before mentioned, I had read por- 
tions of a translation which I had made from a 
German work entitled Introduction to Theolo- 
gical Knowledge^ by Dr. G. J. Planck, Profes- 
sor of Theology at Gottingen. The parts of 
this work which I had selected were those 
which treated of sacred criticism and interpre- 
tation. I was thus led to prepare the transla- 
tion for publication. I appended a consider- 
able amount of notes, one of which compre- 
hended an analysis, though indeed brief, of 



172 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Griesbacli's Prolegomena, and an explanation 
of his critical marks. The work "was pub- 
lished by Leavitt and Company in 1834, in 
duodecimo, pages 306. The edition was limited 
to seven hundred and fifty copies, of which 
about thirty-five were sold. The book was re- 
published in Edinburgh as the fourth volume 
of the Biblical Cabinet. With the exception 
of about seventy, twenty of which I ]3laced in 
the library of the Seminary for the use of stu- 
dents, I gave the whole edition away to suc- 
cessive classes. 

I have nothing of any interest to relate until 
the birth of my first son, which took place at 
Cheshire, Connecticut, in the house of his 
grandfather, on the third of August, 1835. 
This was an occasion of great joy and thank- 
fulness. He was baptized in St. Peter's Church, 
in the village, by the rector, the Kev. E. E. 
Beardsley, and was called Herbert Beach. The 
name was chosen on account of its similarity 
to my own, (after my father's uncle,) Hulbeart, 
and its identity with that of the good country 
parson, George Herbert, whom I then prayed 
God that my child might resemble in devotion 
and piety. 

As the funds of the Seminary had become 
considerably enlarged, the Trustees determined 



BE7. DE. TUENEE. 173 

to erect anotlier iDuilding on the western part 
of the ground. It was to correspond with the 
former in its general aspect and construction, 
although it was to be a few feet longer, and 
thus to enlarge a little the students' rooms, 
making each more convenient for the accommo- 
dation of two. Arrangements were also made 
for better venti^tion. The east end was to 
be prepared as a house for one of the • profes- 
sors, and, as the choice was mine, I determined 
to make it my future residence. N^ot liking 
the construction and arrangement of the house 
in the older building, I endeavored to secure 
an improvement. With a view to this, I made 
an offer, through Professor McVickar, to the 
building committee, which was partly agreed 
to, and thereby the construction of the house 
became greatly superior to that of the other 
two. In the spring of 1836 I moved into it, 
and have resided there ever since. 

At a stated meeting of the Trustees, held 
August fourteenth, 1835, Mr. Peter G. Stuy- 
vesant made an offer of twenty-five thousand 
dollars, to found a professorship, on the condi 
tion of his being allowed to nominate the pro 
fessor, subject to the approbation of the Trus- 
tees. The generous offer was gratefully ac- 
cepted, and Mr. Stuyvesant, on the twenty- 



174 ' AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

first of September, 1835, nominated "tlie Rev. 
Francis L. Hawks, D.D., Rector of St. Thomas's 
Cliurcli in the city of New- York, as Professor 
of the ' St. Mark's in the Bowery,' Professor- 
ship of Ecclesiastical History." Afterwards, 
however, at a special meeting held November 
twenty-fifth, of the same year, "Dr. Hawks 
having previously declined ^he nomination," 
" The Rev. William R. Whittingham, a pres- 
byter of the diocese of New- York," was sub- 
stituted. At the same meeting a communica- 
tion was received from South-Carolina, signed 
by the Bishop and four other clergymen, pro- 
posing as professor in the same department 
the Rev. Samuel F. Jarvis, D.D. At a special 
meeting, held January thirteenth, 1836, called 
for the purpose of acting on Mr. Stuyvesant's 
nomination, it was unanimously approved of, 
and Mr, Whittingham was declared to be the 
professor. He immediately entered upon his 
duties, retaining also the office of librarian, to 
which he had been before appointed, and ap- 
propriating either the whole or a large part 
of the salary of one hundred dollars to some 
student who assisted him in discharging the 
duties of the office. A few years after, Mr. 
Whittingham was elected Bishop of the Church 
in Maryland, and, after his consecration to the 



EEV. DE. TURNEE. 175 

office, lie resigned his professorsMp on Novem- 
ber first, 1840, and the next day Mr. Stuy- 
vesant nominated as his successor "the Rev. 
John D. Ogilby, Professor of Ancient Lan- 
guages in Rutgers College, in the State of 
New- Jersey; and a presbyter of the diocese." 
A special meeting was held on the second of 
December in the same year, when the nomina- 
tion was unanimously approved of, and Mr. 
Ogilby became professor. 

At the triennial meeting of the Board, held 
October fourteenth, 1841, "the Rev. Benjamin 
I. Haight, a presbyter of the diocese of New- 
York, was duly nominated by a vote of the 
Board to the Professorship of Pastoral Theol- 
ogy and Pulpit Eloquence;" and at a special 
meeting held, on the thirtieth of the following 
November, the nomination was unanimously 
approved. On the third of December, 1841, 
Mr. Haight accepted the professorship. He 
was at the same time rector of All Saints' 
Church, and continued to retain this position. 
In June, 1842, the mode of conducting com 
mencements was altered. The reading of dis- 
sertations by the Senior class was dispensed 
with, and the present arrangement adopted. 

I have, for the sake of convenience, thrown 
together the previously mentioned matters re- 



176 ^ AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

lating to tlie Seminary. I must now go back 
to the most melancholy event whicli marks my 
domestic life. 

It had been our usual custom to spend most 
of the summer vacations with my father-in-law 
and his daughters at Cheshire. There we en- 
joyed ourselves with pleasant rural scenes and 
social gratifications. I always pursued some 
regular course of Hebrew or German study, 
and of general reading, and, on occasions of a 
temporary vacancy in the parish, supplied the 
church, and, when there was a rector, assisted 
him, and sometimes other clergymen in the 
neighboring towns, in the duties of the desk 
and pulpit. Thus the vacations were passed 
very agreeably, and I hope usefully ; and the 
pure country air was conducive to our physical 
health. In the season of 1839 it was thought 
best to remain at home, and we spent but a few 
days in Connecticut. Early in August my dear 
wife was attacked with dysentery, and, after a 
course of severe suffering from the disease, she 
gave birth to a second son on the fourteenth. 
He was baptized on the third of September at 
home by the Rev. Hugh Smith, D.D., Rector of 
Sfc. Peter's, and named Joseph, after my father 
and brother, and JMason after the latter and 
my mother. The child's mother, alas ! did not 



EEV. DE. TUKNER. 177 

stand as a sponsor, lier place being supplied by 
my sister Eliza. She liad gone to join " the 
spirits of the just made perfect." The very 
severe attack of that painful disease was too 
much even for her strong constitution to bear 
up under, and on the second of September her 
soul left its earthly tenement, and winged its 
course to that better world, where sickness and 
pain and sorrow are alike unknown. Some 
days before her death, she had become appa- 
rently better ; and I could not but feel encour- 
aged to cherish the faint and lingering hope 
which I had indulged, that my earnest prayers 
might be answered, and that she might yet re- 
cover to bless my declining years with the 
many satisfactions arising from her presence, 
and to aid me in bringing up our children in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But 
Deo aliter visum. What I then felt and thought 
I shall not attempt to describe. A little of this 
you may iind in the memorandum inserted in 
the Bible before mentioned. But the feeling has 
grown with the growth of years and become 
habitual, and although I have tried hard to 
be resigned to the will of God, knowing from 
reasonable faith that it is wise and good, and 
even merciful, yet unable to see by my weak 
understanding the full reason for her removal, 
8* 



178 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ever since her death. I have felt alone in 
the world, though surrronnded by the kindest 
friends, and blessed with the most attentive 
relatives and children. She is gone with whom 
I was united in heart and soul, with whom I 
had lived more than thirteen years in harmony 
and love, uninterrupted by one unkind word or 
feeling. Her departure has left a void which 
neither time nor the respect and affection of 
others can fill. She was most highly respect- 
ed and dearly beloved by all who were well 
acquainted "with her ; and although you never 
can fully know the loss you have sustained by 
her death, you may be able somewhat to ap- 
preciate the character of your mother, from the 
estimate in which her memory is held by those 
who knew her best. Truly God's " judgments 
are unsearchable, and his ways past finding 
out." The remains of my beloved wife were 
deposited in a vault in St. Mark's church-yard. 
In a few months I had these, along vdth those 
of our two children, removed to her family 
burial-ground at Cheshire. In my last ^vill 
and testament, I have directed my o^vn to be 
placed in the same consecrated ground, in the 
hope of a joyous resurrection. 

After I had partially recovered from the 
overwhelming shock occasioned by my heavy 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 179 

domestic calamity, I resolved to endeavor to 
devote my leisure time to some useful employ- 
ment connected with my position in tlie" Semi- 
nary. I therefore began to revise some notes 
on the book of Genesis which I had written in 
an interleaved copy of Michaelis's Hebrew 
Bible, and had used in lectures to the students. 
A thorough revision was necessary, and the 
whole matter had to be examined and written 
anew, and many additional sources of informa- 
tion investigated and compared. The result 
was embodied in a work entitled Companion to 
the BooTc of Genesis^ which was published in 
the spring of 1841, by Wiley and Putnam, 
octavo, pages 405. It consisted of an analysis 
of this first book of the Pentateuch, and a 
commentary which, on the more important 
portions, was considerably extended, the divi- 
sions in both being into sections, according to 
the respective subjects. An introduction of 
sixty-six pages discusses the documentary the- 
ory and other matters of interest and import- 
ance. 

The treatment which this publication receiv- 
ed from two of our Church papers was remark- 
able. In my remarks on the account of the 
fall, in the third chapter of Genesis, and parti- 
cularly on the agent in the temptation, I had 



180 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

stated at some lengtli the three prominent 
views. On the second and third I had de- 
clined expressing positive opinion respecting 
the point whether the tempter, whom I con- 
sidered as identical with the devil, employed 
as his instrument the animal called serpent, 
or whether this form of reptile was designed 
to express allegorically the cunning and insid- 
ious nature of the tempter. In either view, 
the reality of the facts of the temptation and 
the fall remained unaffected. I had expressed 
the opinion that the paradisiacal trees were to 
be understood literally, and that the prohibi- 
tion of the fruit of one of them was intended 
to try and improve the character of our first 
parents. In a periodical then in course of pub- 
lication at Flushing, an article appeared, in 
which the writer attempted to amuse his read- 
ers by speaking of the girls' samplers in for- 
mer years, on which it was the fashion to de- 
lineate pictures of the narrative by working 
serpents with apples in their mouths. This spe- 
cimen of what looks like the littleness of infi- 
del sneering, was published in a Church peri- 
odical ! The writer intended, of course, to 
ridicule my silly superstition. 

A short time before the publication of this 
article, an editorial notice of my book appear- 



EEV. DR. TTJENER. 181 

# 

ed in a Clmrcli paper publislied in tHs city. 
Wliile Mr. WMttingliam was a professor in 
tlie Seminary, a difficulty had arisen between 
him and the editor, occasioned by some re- 
marks on a former editorial, entitled : " On the 
Salvability of the Heathen." These remarks 
were printed in a Philadelj)hia Church paper, 
contrary to the intention of the writer, who 
had marked them private. As the editor of 
this latter paper had introduced them as com- 
ing from the Seminary, the resident professors 
were treated by the New- York periodical in no 
very courteous way. For a time, Dr. Wilson 
and myself declined taking any part in the dis- 
cussion. After the appearance, however, of sev- 
eral articles, one or two of which bore the signa- 
ture of ^' A Trustee," we sent a communication, 
stating that we had no connection with the re- 
marks which had appeared in the Philadelphia 
paper, and showing to what extent we had ex- 
pressed our opinions on the original article. 
As I had gone somewhat beyond Dr. Wilson 
in this point, I laid myself the more open, as 
opportunity should arise, to animadversion and 
censure. Consequently, when my book appear- 
ed, it was attacked extravagantly, and with 
utter want of that discrimination which might 
have been reasonably expected. An uninform- 



182 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

ed reader would naturally have supposed that 
I had written something tending to subvert the 
authority of revealed religion. The following 
citation is sufficient : " We do not question the 
onglit of any man to despise the consent of the 
Fathers, and spend his life in balancing the 
conflicting opinions of modern critics in mat- 
ters on which the Fathers are agreed ; nor do 
we question his viglit to deny the Nicene faith ; 
nor, in* fine, his riglit to abjure the Christian 
religion and to advocate infidelity." "Was ever 
any thing more extraordinary ! Not to recog- 
nize consent of the Fathers on multitudes of 
points on which they differ from each other 
nearly as much as modern writers, is, with 
some, almost a species of infidelity. It were 
well if such persons would take the trouble of 
ascertaining in what matters the Fathers are 
agreed, and in what they vary from each other. 
But they ignore the principle involved in the 
divine words : " We speak that we do know, 
and testify that we have seen." 

The portion of my book to which particular 
reference is made, is the very same which had 
been contemptuously objected to in the Flush- 
ing paper as bordering on the superstitious and 
the silly. In the view of the New- York writer, 
it presented e\TLdence of neology. In a pam- 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 183 

pUet wMcIl I found necessary, in 1845, to pub- 
lish in my own defense, I introduced tMs re- 
mark in reference to the opposite views of su- 
perstition and neology entertained by the two 
writers alluded to : " To be dashed on the rocks 
of Scylla by the one, and consigned by the 
other to the gulf of Oharybdis, is hard. Per- 
haps the reader who is not altogether under 
the influence of that literary autocracy which 
is apt to show itself in all sorts of periodicals, 
may be inclined to think that the author has 
steered his bark sufficiently in the middle of 
the dangerous strait to avoid the mischief 
threatened from both sides." 

This pamphlet, which I introduced with a 
motto taken from the first line of Juvenal, as 
being particularly appropriate to tlli repeated 
attacks, direct and indirect, upon me, which 
thus far I had passed over without reply, was 
not answered nor in any way noticed by the 
periodical. I have introduced the matter here, 
merely because of its intimate and necessary 
connection with the narrative relating to the 
Seminary, and the action of the Trustees and 
the House of Bishops; of all which, I shall 
now give a brief account. 



184 AUTOBIOGEAPHT OF 



CHAPTEE IX. 

History of the Seminary — New-York City an Unfavorable Loca- 
tion — Effects of the Doctrines of the Oxford Tracts and their 
kindred Usages — Conflicting Views with regard to them — 
Suggestion of the Examining Committee — Dissent of Drs. 
Anthon and Smith, in the Committee — Professor Turner's 
Reply to the Imphed Censm-e — The true Place and Value of 
the Early Fathers in the Exposition of Scripture — A Proposi- 
tion to the Trustees — Resolutions of the South-Carolina Con- 
ventioiB — Unfavorable Rumors in regard to the Seminary — 
Report of the South-CaroHna Committee — Singular Questions 
propounded to the Faculty — Episcopal Visitation of the Semi- 
nary — Professor Turner's Answers — Communication from 
Bishop Mcllvaine — Christmas Novelties — Apostasies to Rome 
— Professor Turner's Resistance to Novelties — The Attempt 
of "The Churchman" to Ridicule his Published Statement of 
Facts — " Records of Councils " — Its Ignorance and Indecency 
— Resolu^H^s' of the Visiting-Bishops — The Real Value of 
their Opinion — Romanism among the Students — Secret Plans 
for Propagating it — Action of the Faculty — Expulsions from 
the Seminary — The Expelled Students Ordained in New-York, 
North-Carolina and Maryland — Further Apostasies to Rome 
— Influences Outside of the Seminary — The Errors and Cant 
Phrases of the Times — Characters most easily led astray — 
The Responsibility of those who Recommend Candidates for 
Orders — Resignation of Professors Wilson and Moore — Pro- 
fessor Ogilby's Death — Appointment of Professor Johnson 
and Mahan. 

The principal object whicli I have in view 
in preparing tMs sketcL. requires me to revert 
again to matters connected with the Seminary. 



REV. DR. TURNER. 185 

The Institution Lad been conducted witL as 
mucli success as could reasonably be expected, 
taking into consideration its position and con- 
nections. I have no hesitation in saying that 
its reestablishment in the city of New- York 
always appeared objectionable to me, though I 
do not think it expedient to state my reasons 
in detail. It was removed here from New- 
Haven, and became a respectable and useful 
school of theological instruction. The num- 
ber of its pupils gradually increased, until 
from twenty-four, the total amount of the three 
classes in 1825, it reached, in eleven years, its 
climax of eighty-seven. It continued for a 
long time to retain respectable numbers, aver- 
aging about seventy-three or seventy-four. The 
course of instruction and the action of the pro- 
fessors were approved of, and the examinations 
were reported as highly respectable. But the 
introduction into the Church of the Oxford 
Tracts, with the ultra views whictj, in some 
minds, they either originated or confirmed, and 
extended in others, and the determined oppo- 
sition to them which sprang up among those of 
moderate and Low-Church principles, had' its 
influence on trustees, professors, and students. 
The desire to eliminate the word Protestant 
from our Prayer-Book and other Church au- 
thorities, and to substitute Reformed CatTiolic ; 



186 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 

the disposition to multiply outward religious 
services, and to perform them with peculiar 
ceremonies not before used in our Church, in- 
cluding also the chanting of the Psalter, which 
became much more common than formerly; 
the increased fondness for crosses, plain or 
extravagantly ornamented; the eagerness to 
appeal to the fathers, as the legitimate test of 
true doctrine and exposition, and even by men 
who could not read a sentence in the original ; 
all showed a growing tendency, to append to 
what had heretofore been regarded as the 
true rule of faith, and a sufficient exhibition of 
sound devotion, excrescences, which the body of 
ynse and judicious men had generally regarded, 
not only as unnecessary, but practically inju- 
rious. The existence in various degrees of 
such a feeling, and the consequent reaction it 
naturally produced, are necessary to be kept in 
view, in forming a right judgment of the move- 
ments now to be referred to. 

The first intimation I have found of any 
thing like an inclination to censure, growing 
out of the feeling above mentioned, appears in 
the Report of the Examining Committee for 
1843. In reference to my examination of the 
Middle class on some of the Epistles, they 
" suggest that attention be particularly paid to 
the early fathers of the Church, both as "wit- 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 187 

nesses of Low tlie sacred Scriptures of the 
New Testament were understood by tliose to 
whom they were first committed, and as also 
themselves well fitted, from their character, 
position, and other circumstances, to be useful 
aids to interpretation." One of the members 
of this committee afterwards became a pervert 
to the Romanists. Two others, Drs. Anthon 
and Smith, " dissented from this portion of the 
Report, on the ground that " it contained, in 
their judgment, an incorrect view of the true 
authority of the fathers, no distinct statement 
of who are the early fathers, and seemed to 
them unjust to the professor in that depart- 
ment, from their experience of his perfect 
fidelity." 

At the next meeting, held in June, 1844, 
the Faculty added to their general report a spe- 
cial communication, under my signature. In 
it I requested " directions from the Trustees in 
reference to a portion of the last Annual Re- 
port," just quoted. I expressed my "regret 
that the Committee should have thought it 
their duty to incorporate this * suggestion ' in a 
report made to the Trustees, and according to 
ordinary usage intended for publication, with- 
out any previous conference vdth the professor, 
whose supposed omission appears to be there- 



188 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

by censured." I went on to say that " a suita- 
ble measure of attention to tlie early fathers" 
had been paid ; that " an examination of them 
in reference to the interpretation of Scripture, 
in order to be conducted usefully, would re- 
quire a degree of learning and a faculty of dis- 
crimination, which young men, entering on a 
course of divinity, can not in general be sup- 
posed to possess." I stated my willingness, if 
the Trustees would " so direct, to devote a part 
of the time now employed in explaining the 
sacred Scriptures, to a course of lectures on 
the principles and method of exposition of the 
early fathers ; " I referred, however, to the ex- 
tensiveness of the subject, and the very limited 
time " appropriated to the department of Bib- 
lical Learning and the Interpretation of Scrip- 
ture," which, "during the entire period" of 
the course, did "not exceed one hundred and 
twenty -five " full days. " Whether it be expe- 
dient to take a single day from this compara- 
tively small amount of time now employed in 
the direct critical and exegetical study of the 
Sriptures, in order to devote it to the early 
history of Interpretation, the Trustees, in their 
wisdom, will decide." To this communication 
no reply was made. The report, presented at 
the same meeting, of the Committee, who at- 



EEV. DR. TUENER. 189 

tended tlie intermediate examination, tlien lield 
in tlie montli of February, contains also an- 
otlier expressive Mnt, in tlie words following : 
"In tlie exegesis of tlie sacred text, great at- 
tention should be paid to tlie numerous false 
interpretations wMcli liave been given. Tlie 
student wlio is preparing for tlie ministry of 
tlie Churcli ought to be familiarly acquainted 
with all the phases of error. This is well; but 
at the same time it would seem to be all-im- 
portant that he should not be left to the exer- 
cise of his own private judgment as to what 
the truth is. The Church professes to teach 
catholic doctrine. This should be the standard 
by which all human opinions must be tried: 
the sooner the student is put in possession of, 
and taught to apply this standard, the better." 
Thus the doctrine of the Church of England, 
that the Scriptures are the sole rule of faith, 
was set aside, and " the Church,"" or its " catho- 
lic doctrine," substituted in its place. The na- 
ture of the examination and instruction alluded 
to, may be inferred from this language of the 
Committee, which consisted of only three mem- 
bers. (See Proceedings, page 402.) A few years 
afterwards one of them joined the Chui'ch of 
Eome. 

At the same meeting certain resolutions, pass- 



190 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ed by the Convention of Sontli-Carolina, having 
a reference to some rumors unfavorable to the 
Seminary, were laid before the Board. They 
were referred to a committee, " to report in the 
fullest manner " at the ensuing triennial meet- 
ing, which was held on the thirtieth of Septem- 
ber following. The Rev. ]\Ir. Trapier of South- 
Carolina, a member of the committee, made a 
report containing a full statement of their pro- 
ceedings, which had been conducted, partly 
at meetings held in June during the annual 
session of the Board, and partly during an ad- 
journed meeting held in the latter part of Sep- 
tember. The rumors related to instructions said 
to have been given respecting the practice of 
infant communion in the primitive Church, and 
the heretical character of the Church of Home. 
The statements, and extracts of letters contain- 
ino; them, were ordered to be entered on the 
minutes, and may be found on pages 419, 420. 
The report contains also certain questions or 
" heads of inquiry proposed to the professors," 
together with the answers thereto. The last 
question would not have come with much con- 
sistency from those Trustees whose names are 
appended to the report, just referred to, of the 
intermediate examination. It runs thus : " Do 
the teachings of the professors inculcate that 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 191 

holy Scripture is tlie supreme rule of faitH, as 
is taughf in tlie sixtli article of tlie tMrty- 
nine?" The concluding paragraph of "the 
Draft of the Eeport of the Board of Trustees 
to the General Convention " contained the fol- 
lowing : " The Trustees feel assured that the 
General Theological Seminary has never been 
in a more healthful condition than it is at the 
present time." These words, "the Rev. Mr. 
Trapier moved to strike out." The motion 
was sustained by a vote of twenty-five, includ- 
ing Bishops Brownell, Hopkins, Mcllvaine, 
Kemper, and Eastburn. It was negatived by 
a vote of twenty-six members, among whom 
were Bishops Onderdonk, Doane, Ives, and 
Gadsden. " Bishop Mcllvaine then moved 
that the Secretary be ordered to lay before the 
House of Bishops 'all the documents connected 
with the proceedings of the Committee on the 
resolutions of the South-Carolina Convention, 
which have been read to this Board, — and the 
same was negatived." (See the Proceedings of 
The Stated Triennial Meeting, page 442.) The 
unwillingness of a majority of the Board to lay 
open before the oflS-cial visitors all the circum- 
stances connected with the "rumors unfavor- 
able to the Seminary," is evident. It is not, 
therefore, to be wondered at, that a minority 



192 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

presented to tlie following General Convention 
" a brief statement," containing the expression 
of "their dissent from' the said report." This 
was signed by Bishops Hopkins, Mcllvaine, 
and Eastburn, by the Rev. Dr. Anthon, and 
Messrs. Barnwell and Neufville, and by Mr. P. 
G. Stnyvesant. 

If the statements just made are duly consid- 
ered, it will not appear at all surprising that, 
immediately on the assembling of the House 
of Bishops at the next General Convention 
held in Philadelphia, early in October, Bishop 
Chase presiding, the state of the Seminary was 
brought up for consideration. As they were 
officially visitors of the Institution, "to see 
that the instruction and discipline be duly car- 
ried out," it became their duty to exercise 
their legitimate authority. A set of forty ques- 
tions was therefore prepared by them, a copy 
of which was transmitted to each of the pro- 
fessors, with three additional ones addressed ex- 
clusively to the Professor of Ecclesiastical His- 
tory, "requesting answers at their earliest con- 
venience." I never was more amazed than 
when reading some of these questions, and 
occasionally the thought occuiTed to me that 
the document could not be genuine. Some of 
the questions appeared irrelevant; others to 



EEV. DE. TUENEE. 193 

imply wliat was wliolly improbable; others, 
again, to have been proposed simply in order 
to counterbalance wbat liad been previously 
admitted, so that one class might neutralize the 
other. I was hardly able to persuade myself 
that they could have originated with such a 
body. The following language was used of 
them in the Ohurchman^ not long after the visi- 
tation, which took place immediately after the 
Convention : " If the Pope, the Oxford Tracts, 
the father of. modern neology, andt Calvinism 
had been present in person or in effigy ; and if 
the questions had been elicited from the Kight 
Kev. Fathers by their several fears of each, and 
had then been shaken in a hat, and drawn out 
for numerical arrangement, they could not have 
had less coherence and mutual dependence." I 
will quote a few, in illustration of what I have 
said, without having the least knowledge of the 
indi\ddual Bishops who suggested them : 

"11. Are the works of Toplady, of Thomas 
Scott, and John ISTewton, and Blunt on the 
Articles, or any of them, used as text-books, or 
publicly or privately recommended to the stu- 
dents of the Seminary V It is not to be sup- 
posed that any member of the House of Bish- 
ops could have thought that Dr. Wilson, the 
professor under whose super\dsion the topics 
9 



194 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

alluded to would properly come, was likely to 
use sucIl books ; and certainly no other profes- 
sor could have been intended. The next ques- 
tion solves the phenomenon: "12. Are the 
works of the Rev. Dr. Pusey, Messrs. Newman, 
Keble, Palmer, Ward, and Massingberd, or any 
of them, used as text-books, or publicly or pri- 
vately recommended in the Seminary?" Mas- 
singberd had been used for a short time, 
though entirely unworthy of such a distinction. 
It had nevtr been adopted as a text-book. The 
one question is evidently a set-off to the other. 
So also the 28th 29th, and 30th in contradis- 
tinction to the 31st and 32d: "Are the Oxford 
Tracts adopted as text-books in the Seminary ? 
Are they publicly or privately recommended to 
the students ? Is Tract 90 used as a text-book, 
or (so) recommended V On the other side : 
" Is Calvinism, comprehending what are known 
as the ^ five points,' (so) taught or recommend- 
ed ? Is any one of the five points (so) taught 
or recommended V Again : "41. What has 
the Professor of Ecclesiastical History taught 
concerning the heretical character of the Koni- 
an Church ? 42. Concernino; the Constantino- 
politan creed ?" These are followed by : " 43. 
Is the doctrine of ' limited atonement,' and of 
^ reprobation,' taught in the Seminary ?" I do 



EEV. DK. TURNEE. 195 

not believe tliat any member of the House of 
Bishops had the least idea that such doctrines 
were taught. Once more : "36. Are the su- 
perstitious practices of the Romish Chui^ch, 
such as the use or worship of the crucifix, of 
images of saints, and the invocation of the 
blessed Virgin, and other saints, adopted, or 
.publicly or privately recommended in the Sem- 
inary?" To outweigh which, follows: ^^^37. 
Is the German system of rationalism — ^that is, 
of rejecting every thing mysterious in the doc- 
trines and institutions of the Gospel, and mak- 
ing human reason the sole umpire in theology, 
adopted, or (so) recommended in the Semi- 
nary ? 38. Are German, or other authors who 
support that system, adopted as text-books, or 
(so) recommended as guides of theological 
opinion?" As disclosing the same feeling 
which gave rise to these two questions, I add 
the 14th : " Has it been publicly or privately 
taught in the Seminary, that any portion of the 
sacred narrative in the book of Genesis is in 
the nature of a myth, or is merely or principal- 
ly allegorical ?" Subsequently I mentioned to 
one of the Kight Reverend gentlemen who had 
proposed some similarly objectionable questions 
to the Committee of the Board -of Trustees, my 
impression that certain of the Bishops' ques- 



196 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

tions were introduced just to stand in contra- 
distinction to certain others ; and his reply 
was — "exactly so!" The inquiries last cited 
evidently refer to what had been ungenerously 
and untruly stated in reference to my comment, 
in the Compaoiion to Genesis, on the fall of 
man. • 

It will be sufficient for me to give the sub- 
stance of some of the answers in my own com- 
munication. To state those of the other pro- 
fessors does not come within my purpose. To 
the 14th, just cited, I replied as follows : " Not 
to my knowledge. So far as relates to myself, 
very particular pains have been taken to show 
the fallacy of the system referred to ; and this 
I have also done in my Oompanion to the Booh 
of Genesisr My answer to the 37th and 38th 
was designedly full. I intended it to compre- 
hend a reply to the charge of rationalistic ten- 
dency which had been advanced after the pub- 
lication of the volume before mentioned, and 
which seemed to give shape and character to 
the two questions. I shall transcribe it in full : 
" Presuming that these questions are intended 
to bear principally on my department, the 
Bishops will pardon me if I express my great 
surprise that they should have been proposed. 
If there be an;^ one thing for which I feel con- 



EEV. DE. TURKEE. • 197 

scious tliat I merit tlie approval of the Trustees ♦ 
and tlie Clmrcli, it is for tlie uniform opposition 
wliicli I have made to tlie wliole system refer- 
red to, wlietlier appearing in Germany, England, 
or America. The book before mentioned, (in 
the reply to the 14th question,) contains satis- 
factory evidence of this, and exposes some mat- 
ters in the Hebrew Lexicon of Gesenius, even 
where the student could hardly suppose a ra- 
tionalistic tendency to show itself The Intro- 
duction to the Old Testament, (Jahn's,) pub- 
lished several years ago by one of your Right 
Reverend body and myself, though it is very 
far from being what I could wish, abounds 
with similar proofs; and, indeed, the E,ev. Dr. 
Home incorporated a portion of it with his 
own Introduction for this very reason^ and 
wrote to me on the subject, at the same time 
presenting me with a copy of his work as an 
acknowledgment. In my instruction to the , 
classes, I have particularly guarded them 
against the whole theory of rationalism, most 
especially as regards the interpretation of pro- 
phecy and miracles, considering it as neither 
more nor less than disguised infidelity. With 
such views of it, I of course reply to the ques- 
tions very decidedly in the negative." 



198 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

In addition to this most extraordinary col- 
lection of questions proposed by tlie House 
of Bishops, I received a communication from 
Bishop Mcllvaine, to understand the purport 
of which it is necessary to mention a matter 
which might under other circumstances proper- 
ly be passed over. It is trifling in itself, but 
as indicating a state of feeling in the minds of 
some students, and as remarked upon by one 
of our Church papers, and noted in an English 
publication, it assumes a degree of importance 
which otherwise could not attach to it. 

The day before Christmas, 1843, I happened 
to go into the long-room, which was used as a 
Chapel, to see how it was dressed. My atten- 
tion was arrested by a wooden cross, about 
two feet high, placed on. the front railing of 
the chancel, ornamented partly by evergreens, 
and partly by artificial flowers. As rumors 
of certain practices accordant with those 
of the Church of Kome being in use by some 
students, had already been considerably circu- 
lated, and in very exaggerated forms; and as 
one student, who in all probability entered 
with Romanist tendencies, had lately left the 
Seminary and joined that Church, I thought 
it highly inex|)edient to suffer a novelty like 
this to pass unnoticed. I considered also, that, 



EEY. DR. TURKER. 199 

as the Seminary was an institution of tlie 
whole Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
United States, it would be wrong to allow 
what would reasonably be regarded as objec- 
tionable by a large proportion of that body; 
and believing, moreover, that the axiom obsta 
pj^incipiis was particularly applicable in the 
present instance, the next day, I required the 
cross to be removed, thereby exercising a pow- 
er which I believed to be vested in the Dean, 
by the statutes. The same night, Christmas- 
eve, the Seminary - bell was rung at twelve 
o'clock, to the surprise and annoyance of the 
neighborhood ; and some of the students, with- 
out asking permission of the Dean or Faculty, 
held a midnight service in the Chapel. I was 
afterwards told that they had placed a paper 
representation of an illuminated star at one 
end of the room, and that in the course of the 
service it got on fire, and had to be taken hast- 
ily to the basement, to prevent mischief. In 
the same note which directed the removal of 
the cross, I stated my objections to the mid- 
night service, and mentioned the entering into 
the Chapel not by the door, the key of which, 
by a mere chance, happened that night to be 
in my possession. I think it proper to add 
that three of the students, then belonging to 



200 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

the Seminary, afterwards connected themselves 
with the Church of Eome. 

I gave Bishop Mcllvaine an exact account of 
this matter in my reply, and consequently it 
became public. A Church paper made it a 
topic of contemptuous ridicule, taking a one- 
sided view, without attributing any weight to 
the feeling and tendency which it betrayed. 
And in the year 1846 a work was published 
in London under the title, Records of Coun- 
cils^ which refers to the General Convention of 
1844 as the "^' Council of Philadelphia"! In a 
note, the writer remarks on this affair in such 
a very slighting way as to show plainly the 
tenor of his own ecclesiastical views. He 
speaks of " an amusing case being brought be- 
fore the Synod. It seems that the Dean of 
the Faculty for the year, one Samuel H. Tur- 
ner, had been much scandalized by the sight 
of a wooden cross, about two feet high, deco- 
rated with flowers and evergreens on- the chan- 
cel-rails of the Chapel. This, I understand^ is 
not an imcommon custom in the churches of 
the United States ; but Mr. Turner, it seems, 
preferred to connect the observation of the 
pious custom, in this particular case, with the 
Popish feelings and predilections which he 
imagined to be then rife in the Seminary." 



EEV. DE. TUENER. 201 

(Page 487.) The general accuracy of the work 
may be judged of by those who are acquaint- 
ed with the facts of this case, thus caricatured. 
The author of the Record^ who regarded the 
" charge of Popish views and practices having 
been favored, as ohsurd^'' was utterly ignorant 
of what he undertook to express an opinion 
•upon. In his Preface he acknowledges his 
obligation to some clergymen in this country 
for information respecting tlie state of tJie 
Church ! 

After the replies of the several professors to 
the Episcopal inquiries had been considered, 
the House of Bishops held a meeting on the 
thirtieth of October, at the Seminary. On this 
occasion an additional portion of correspond- 
ence was brought forward and acted on. The 
next day a second meeting was held ; and after 
Morning Prayer in the Chapel, certain resolu- 
tions were adopted, and " the House, after en- 
gaging in devotional exercises, conducted by 
the presiding Bishop, adjourned sine die^ 
Two of the resolutions are as follows: 

'''' Hesolved^ That the Bishops, and visitors, 
having visited the Seminary and inspected the 
same, do not find in any of its interior arrange- 
ments any evidences that superstitious or 
Bomish practices are allowed or encouraged in 

the Institution. 

9* 



202 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

^^Hesolvedj That the Bishops deem the. publi- 
cation of the questions of the Bishops and the 
answers of the professors the most appropriate 
reply to the current rumors respecting the doc- 
trinal teaching of the Seminary." 

With regard to the latter, I am compelled 
to say, that such questions, with the answers 
which they would naturally produce, appear to 
me to afford a very insufficient reply to the ru- 
mors alluded to. Such an investi2:ation was 
quite inadequate. As to the former, I never 
heard of the private rooms of the students 
having been inspected by the Bight Beverend 
visitors. I presume, therefore, that the " inte- 
rior arrangements" mentioned, relate to those 
of the Chapel, Library, and Lecture-rooms. A 
short time after the "Episcopal visitation," I 
heard, from a source to be entirely relied on, of 
its having been said by one student, that " if 
they had come into his room he could have 
shown them a crucifix." It will be evident 
from what is yet to be narrated in this connec- 
tion, that the inquiries and the visitation were 
practically of little or no benefit. And indeed 
this might have been expected from the char- 
acter of both. 

The Episcopal visitation was made in Octo- 
ber, 1844. About two months and a half after- 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 203 

wards, suspicions fell on some students, not 
only of Komisli tendencies and views, but also 
of having made direct efforts to propagate 
these among their fellow-pupils. A brief no- 
tice of the matter is necessary, in order to pre- 
sent a correct view of the state of the Semina- 
ry at this time. I shall give it, as far as prac- 
ticable, in the statement made by the Faculty, 
in reply to a resolution communicated to them 
by the Trustees, at their annual meeting, in 
June, 1845, requesting information in reference 
to discipline, which had been exercised on cer- 
tain of the students referred to. Dr. Wilson, 
who was then Dean, drew it up ; and this is 
sufficient warrant for its accuracy. (See Pro- 
ceedings, page 439, et seq.) 

"In consequence of voluntary information 
communicated by several students to Professor 
Ogilby, he presented on the 23d of December, 

1844, distinct charges against and 

individually. On these charges trials took 
place on the seventh of January, 1845; and 
the witnesses produced were examined, and 
the parties heard. The Faculty then adjourn- 
ed until the afternoon of the following day, 
when a decision was intended to be given. 
But in consequence of intimations from sev- 
eral students on the morning of that day, that 



204 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 

mucli more evidence existed than had been 
produced on those trials, and also from the 
tenor of some of the testimony which had been 
given, it was deemed proj)er to pursue the 
inquiries farther; and to request the studen^ts 
(except the supposed parties concerned) to 
give to the Faculty such information as they 
possessed and could communicate. A general 
inquiry was accordingly commenced into the 
state of the Seminary in reference to the sub- 
jects of complaint, and was continued until the 
13th of January, (Sunday excepted,) when the 
whole evidence was completed." 

In the course of the investigation some evi- 
dence appeared of a designed cooperation on 
the part of certain students to effect the above- 
mentioned purpose. On this point, however, 
the Faculty were divided in opinion, although 
the majority regarded it as sufficiently sustain- 
ed. To my mind much of the evidence ad- 
duced coincided with this view of the case. 
Still I thought that the facts attested might be 
explained on the ground of occasional unex- 
pected coincidence, without resorting to a sup- 
position, which every member of the Faculty 
would have felt relieved by being able to re- 
ject. In resolving on the exercise of discipline 
the Faculty did not act "on the ground of 



REV. DR. TURNER. 205 

theological error simply. They considered the 
cases only as the conduct of the parties affect- 
ed the relation in which they stood as stu- 
dents in the Seminary, and not as candidates 
for orders ; in which character they were sub- 
ject only to the ecclesiastical authority of the 
proper diocese. The principle on which the 
Faculty proceeded was, that the students charg- 
ed acted contrary to their duties and engage- 
ments to the Institution ; that they not merely 
themselves embraced theological errors, but 
promulgated and maintained them within the 
Seminary; that they held themselves, and in- 
stilled into the minds of other students, prin- 
ciples of a theological system adverse to that 
of our Church, and to the course of instruction 
prescribed by the House of Bishops and the 
Trustees of the Seminary ; that they thus pre- 
possessed their own minds and those of others 
with error before they could in the regular 
course of study engage in the proper examina- 
tion of those controverted principles, thereby 
greatly diminishing the full benefit of that 
course to themselves and others ; that this con- 
duct tended to create parties among the stu- 
dents -with excitement of feeling, thus disturb- 
ing the harmony of the Seminary — an effect 
which had, in fact, been in part produced, and 



206 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

threatened to increase, unless a check was ap- 
plied ; that it exposed the Institution itself to 
the imputation of maintaining and instilling 
erroneous doctrines and encouraging suj^ersti- 
tious practices, and thus injured its reputation 
and usefulness ; that there was danger of its 
opening a way to extraneous influence through 
their instrumentality." These were the reasons 
which governed the Faculty. 

The direct result of the investigation was as 
follows : " On the thirteenth of January, 1845, 

the Faculty resolved that and , both 

of the Middle class, cease to be members of 
the Seminary, and that they be directed to 
withdraw from the Institution." I was in favor 
of a sentence of suspension during the plea- 
sure of the Faculty. I preferred this decision 
to that of entire separation, because I thought 
it would afford the persons concerned an op- 
portunity of showing regret for the course 
they had pursued, and of an endeavor to pro- 
duce among their brethren a suitable reaction 
in favor of evangelical truth. The other two 
students against whom charges had been made 
were subjected to admonition. This was ad- 
ministered with suitable brevity and charac- 
teristic mildness by the Dean. 

A week after the admonition had been given, 



REV. DR. TURNER. 207 

one of the two withdrew from the Seminary, 
and sent a letter to the Dean and Faculty stat- 
ing his reasons for so doing, which were as fol- 
lows : 1. Becanso the Faculty had shown disre- 
gard to the rights of candidates; 2. Because 
by remaining he would appear to acquiesce in 
the justice of the sentence ; 3. Because the 
grounds taken by the Faculty deprive him of 
reasonable liberty of volition and freedom of 
discussion; 4. Because the means adopted by 
the Faculty to obtain evidence are in his opin- 
ion unworthy and dishonorable ; to which he 
added other considerations reflecting on that 
body with pointed injustice. This communica- 
tion, under the name of the student, was pub- 
lished in the Churchman. The letfcer and its 
publication show the young man's want of pro- 
per respect for his elders in years and superi- 
ors in authority. And yet I must do him the 
justice to say that his usual behavior mani- 
fested a kind, gentlemanly and Christian de- 
portment, such as the circle of society in which 
he had been accustomed to move, and the edu- 
tion which he had received, might have led one 
to expect. After some time he was ordained 
in Brooklyn. He was in delicate health, and 
survived only a few years. One of the stu- 
dents, whose connection with the Seminary had 



208 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

been severed, afterwards removed to North- 
Carolina, where he was ordained. The other, 
who had merely been admonished, continued a 
member of the Institution until April, when, 
his health not being good, he withdrew to Con- 
necticut. Subsequently he was ordained there. 
The other student who was obliged to leave 
was a candidate in Delaware. His Bishop wrote 
to me for a copy of the notes I had taken of 
the late investigation. This request I declined 
complying with, as the Faculty had agreed not 
to give publicity to the evidence. I offered 
him, however, a copy of that particular portion 
which concerned his own candidate. On ex- 
amining it, he immediately excluded him from 
his list. Soon afterwards the young man re- 
moved to Maryland, where in due time he 
became a candidate again, was ordained, and 
settled in the diocese. 

The evidence showed, that there were stu- 
dents whose views in some points were Romish, 
and whose intention was, after entering upon 
parochial duties within our Church, to endeav- 
or gradually to lead their congregations along 
with themselves to the Church of Rome. Wild 
and fanatical project, with v^hich it were ab- 
surd to imagine that the people could have 
been made to cooperate ! Yet so deeply had 



KEY. DR. TURNER. 209 

unsound, Jesuitical principles insinuated them- 
selves into tlie mind, in defiance of morality 
and common-sense. There is good reason to 
believe that the principles and tendency were, 
in most cases, brought into the Seminary by 
students when admitted, and, in all others, that 
they found a congenial soil, when attempts were 
made to introduce them. Three young men, 
who were members of the Seminary about the 
period referred to, afterwards connected them- 
selves with the Romanists. 

When the history of the Seminary about 
this period, both as regards some of its in- 
ternal elements and many of the outward 
agencies which were brought to bear upon 
it, is calmly and dispassionately examined, the 
conclusion must force itself on every thought- 
ful mind, that the difficulties may be traced to 
the natural influence of the Oxford Tracts. 
Apart from their generally deeper religious 
feeling, the principles which characterize these 
publications harmonize very much with those 
that distinguished the Jacobite party in the 
Church of Eno^land durino; the time of the 
Stuarts ; although it may be that, in some re- 
spects, and as exhibited in a few of their pro- 
ductions, as, for instance, No. 90, the approx- 
imation to Eoman Catholic error is closer. It is 



210 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

therefore not to be wondered at that men, 
whose views on disputed topics of discipline 
or doctrine were what are usually known as 
ultra High-Church, should have eagerly em- 
braced them, and, in many cases, without any 
clear view of their nature and tendency. They 
were decidedly anti-sectarian, anti-Low-Church, 
and that was enough to enkindle the glow of 
affection. Such Reeling, in a greater or less 
degree, influenced a considerable number of 
our clergy, and one or two members of the 
Faculty, who had always been known as High- 
Churchmen, participated in it. Several of 
the young men, too, who entered the Seminary, 
had imbibed the same spirit, and were ready to 
affirm statements of doctrine, of the meaning 
of which they had no clear idea. The phrase- 
ology and the supposed doctrines were thought 
to be Church-like, and the propriety and cor- 
rectness of both were, perhaps unconsciously, 
assumed. The cant in common use among a 
certain class of persons was : '^ The Church 
says so, and that's enough." If asked, "What 
do you mean by the Church ?- — where has she 
said so? — how do you know that such is her 
meaning V — the questions were regarded "with 
suspicion, as if they implied setting up private 
judgment against the Church. Thus, as has 



REV. DR. TURNER. 211 

always been the case in sucli controversy, the 
thing to be proved was taken for granted. 

But although there certainly were students 
who ran into extremes on points of this sort, 
and were sustained in certain of their notions 
somewhat by officials within the Seminary, and 
in a much greater degree by clergymen with- 
out, yet such views did not, either at that pe- 
riod or any other, characterize the mass, and 
unqualified charges have often been advanced 
against the institution which were unfounded. 
The truth of this remark will appear to any 
impartial man who will examine the catalogues 
for a few years, trace the ministerial history of 
the respective members of the several classes, 
and become acquainted with their ecclesiastical, 
parochial, and religious standing. It is unfair, 
ungenerous, and indeed dishonorable, to select 
a few names noted for ultra views, extraordi- 
nary procedure, and want of practical success 
in the ministry, and exhibit them as a sam- 
ple of Seminary training, ignoring at the same 
time their fellow-students, who have spent 
years of laborious, useful activity in building 
up the Church, it may be in retired places, 
where their daily efforts were unknown, except 
in the immediate vicinity of those who were 
blessed by their ministrations. On the one 



212 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

hand, tlie Seminary must not pretend to claim 
the merit of all the valuable labors of her best 
sons ; nor, on the other, is she chargeable with 
the weakness, inefficiency, erroneous or mis- 
taken views, or conduct, of young men who en- 
tered her walls under the influence of a particu- 
lar theological system, contemptuously rejected 
the instructions which might have served to 
clear, in some degree, the misty atmosj)here of 
their minds, and passed out of the Institution 
radically unchanged. The real fault is farther 
back, and may be found in the right answer to 
to the all-important and suggestive question: 
"Who recommended these youths as apt and 
meet to exercise the ministry to the glory of 
God and the good of the Church V Under 
the influence of what genial suns, of what gen- 
tle showers, of what balmy dews, did these sap- 
lings grow, so as to supply suitable materials 
for ministerial Mercuries ? 

On the twenty-eighth of June, 1848, Dr. 
Wilson sent to the Trustees a resignation of 
his professorship, which he withdrew the next 
day, at " the earnest and unanimous wish of the 
Board." In 1850, however, he renewed the act, 
and the resignation was accepted. So also was 
Dr. Moore's, which was tendered at the same 
time. The Trustees passed suitable resolu- 



REV. DR. TURNER. 213 

tions in relation to botli, and appointed tliem 
emeriti professors in their respective depart- 
ments. The students gave evidence of regard 
for their venerated teachers by presenting to 
each a beautifal quarto Bible, also to the Sem- 
inary Chapel a very handsome silver chalice 
and paten for the communion, inscribed with 
their names. At a special meeting, held No- 
vember fifth, 1850, Dr. Samuel E,. Johnson vras 
appointed successor to Dr. Wilson. The same 
year the Rev. Mr. Houghton was appointed in- 
structor in Hebrew by the Standing Committee, 
who had been " requested to supply such in- 
struction as may be needed in the elements of 
the language." (See Proceedings, November 
fifth and September twenty-fourth, pages 668 
and 655.) 

Early in 1851, Dr. Ogilby, whose health had 
long been failing, died in Paris. On the tenth 
of September the Rev. Milo Mahan, A.M., was 
appointed his successor. 



214 AUTOBIOGEArUT OF 



CHAPTER X. 

Serious Personal Injury — Record of Publications — "Essay on our 
Lord's Discourse at Capernaum" — "Biographical Notices of 
Jewish Rabbis" — Dr. Murdock's opinion of the Work — "Spir- 
itual Things Compared with Spiritual" — Reply to Strictures 
upon the Publication — Two Discourses on the Rule of Faith — 
A Volume on Prophecy — The Epistle to the Hebrews in Greek 
and English — The Epistle to the Romans in Greek and Eng- 
lish — The Epistle to the Ephesians in Greek and English — The 
Epistle to the Galatians in Greek and Enghsh. 

Early in October, 1853, on crossing tlie 
Nortli River in the Jersey City ferry-boat, I 
liad a very violent fall, and injured my right 
thigh so severely that, for a day or two, the 
physician was doubtful whether some fracture 
had not taken place. Happily, this was not 
the case. For more than a month I could not 
move without great difficulty. After that time, 
however, I was able, with occasional omissions, 
to attend the classes in my study. Late in the 
mnter I became strong enough to walk out a 
little by the aid of crutches, the use of which I 
could not abandon until the end of the next 
summer. From the effects of this fall I have 
never been entirely relieved. 



EEV. DR. TURNER. " 215 

The day after my accident, at tlie Trien- 
nial Meeting of the Trustees, held on the elev- 
enth of the month, Bishop Potter of Penn- 
sylvania proposed to raise the salaries of the 
Professors of Systematic Divinity and Ecclesi- 
astical EQstory to $2000 each, and "in consid- 
eration of long, laborious, and inadequately 
paid services," (see Proceedings, October, 1853, 
page 843,) to raise mine to $2500. Originally 
it was $1000, after the removal of the Semina- 
ry from New-Haven $1500, to which, on the 
erection of a building, a residence therein was 
added. The expenses of housekeeping, which 
for several years had been steadily advancing, 
made an addition to the salaries not only desir- 
able, but necessary. 

I now go back a few years to give an account 
of some publications which I had caused to be 
issued after that on Genesis. 

During the summer of 1844, it was told me, 
by an intelligent and well-educated student" 
from the Diocese of Maine, that, during a visit 
which he had lately made at West-Point, he 
was surprised to find some Episcopalians, who 
had been very favorably impressed by Dr. (af- 
terwards Cardinal) Wiseman's Lectures on the 
Keal Presence. I was thus led to examine the 
book, and finding that it abounded with un- 



216 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

sound reasoning and interpretation, and con- 
tained some misstatements of facts, indicating 
extraordinary want of knowledge and atten- 
tion, as to the particulars concerned, I under- 
took to show its inconsistencies and errors, 
and at the same time to prepare an analysis 
and exposition of our Lord's Discourse at Ca- 
pernaum, wMcli the Cardinal had misappre- 
hended, and to present the reader with the 
views on this portion of St. John which had 
been given by the fathers of the first three 
centuries, and some of the earliest and lead- 
ino^ divines of the Keformed Church of Eno;- 
land. The result of this investigation was pub- 
lished in 1845, under the title : Essay on our 
Lord's Discourse at Capernaum^ recorded in 
the sixth chapter of St, John^ 12 mo, pp. 158 ; 
to which in 1851 I added a short appendix. 

As illustrative of the feeling which existed 
in some minds in reference to my theological 
views, and the kind of instruction known to 
be given by me in the Seminary, I will quote 
the language which was appliecj to this Es- 
say, in a note appended to a sermon publish- 
ed by the Reverend gentleman, to whom the 
author of the Record of Councils, before men- 
tioned, acknowledges himself indebted for in- 
formation respecting the state of the Church 



REV. DR. TURNER. 217 

in tMs country. (See page 201.) He repre- 
sents the interpretation of John 6 as "a com- 
paratively novel and neological exposition, put 
forth to supplant the teaching of the Catholic 
Church on the holy mystery of the body and 
blood of Christ." 

In studying Jewish Commentaries, I had been 
in the habifc of committing to paper transla- 
tions of certain portions, especially such as 
seemed to be particularly important to Christ- 
ian biblical students. After some time I un- 
dertook to translate entire, the exposition given 
by their most distinguished writers of some 
select portions of the prophets, especially of 
Isaiah, together with, a few passages from the 
Targums. To these I added some selections 
from the Jad and More Nevochim of Mai. 
monides. To all these I appended a few notes 
and appropriate introductions. Short biograph-* 
ical notices of the authors, whose works afford- 
ed the material for translation, preceded the 
selected portions. This volume was issued in 
1847, under the following title : BiograpMcal 
Notices of some of the most DistinguisJied Jew- 
isTi Itdbhies, and Translations of Portions of 
their Commentaries and other WbrhSj with il- 
lustrative Introductions and Notes. Stanford 
& Swords. 12mo, 1847, pp. 245. While study- 
10 



218 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ing these Rabbinical productions, I employed 
myself in preparing, from lexicographical au- 
thorities, a glossary of such words as either do 
not occur in the Hebrew Bible, or not with the 
later Jewish meaning. Connected with the 
Glossary was a large table of abbreviations, se- 
lected chiefly from the work of Buxtorf. In the 
preface to the Notices^ etc., I pledged myself 
to publish the Glossary and Abbreviations, pro- 
vided "this little volume should be fortunate 
enough to secure a patronage sufficient to 
meet the expense of its publication." I did 
hope to add also the original selections in 
Eabbinic. However, I have not yet, in four- 
teen years, been required to redeem the 
pledge ; and subsequent various occupations 
have made me rather rusty in this sort of 
knowledge. 

As I had formed a slight acquaintance with 
two or three Jewish gentlemen who were some- 
what familiar with the original works of their 
own literati^ I sent them copies of my book. 
From one, who occasionally acted as reader in 
a synagogue, I received a very courteous note 
in Hebrew. In the midst of no little Oriental 
laudation, he expressed his dissent from some 
of my statements. My answer, whicli was of 
course in English, reciprocated his courtesy, 



REV. DR. TURNER. 219 

and offered to consider any objections wMcli 
lie miglit be pleased to communicate. Our 
correspondence, however, ended with my reply. 

In the QliuTch Review for April, 1848, there 
is a notice of this work, which contains the fol- 
lowing : " To the correctness of the translations 
from Jarchi and some of the Targums, we our- 
selves can testify. The tract from the More 
N^evochim, or Guide to the Perplexed, we have 
compared throughout with the original Hebrew^ 
and pronounce it accurate and scholar-like." I 
give this extract, because the remarks were 
written by the late venerable and Kev. James 
Murdock, D.D., than whom few men were more 
competent to give a correct opinion, and none 
more certain to give such as he believed to be 
true. 

The next year I published a pamphlet of 
eighty pages, for the immediate use of theolo- 
gical students in their critical examination of 
the ]^ew Testament, intending it at the same 
time for 3ible-classes, and private Christians 
who might be willing to take some trouble in 
order to ascertain the meaning of sacred Scrip- 
ture. I gave it the title: Spiritual Things 
Compared with Spiritual^ and Explained to 
Spiritual Men; or an Attempt to Illustrate the 
New Testament ly Parallel References, The 



220 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

allusion wliicli it contains, to a meaning of 1 
Corinthians 2 : 13, different from tliat of our 
authorized translation, is explained in the Pre- 
face, which states, also, the design of the publi- 
cation. By putting it into the hands of Semi- 
nary students, I have been saved the trouble 
of dictating, and they of copying a multiplici- 
ty of references. I intended it as, in a measure, 
a Biblical Comment on the ISTew Testament. 
On the appearance of this volume, which, al- 
though quite small, had given me a good deal 
of trouble, it was noticed in a Church paper. 
I thought it expedient to vindicate the Befer- 
ences from its strictures, and therefore publish- 
ed two articles in the Protestant Ghurchman 
of May twenty-seventh, and June tenth, 1848. 
The editor of the former periodical " could not 
imagine upon what ground all allusion to the 
Holy Eucharist was avoided " in the references 
on John 6 : 52-56. I stated, in reply, that, as I 
had " taken some pains in the Essay " previous- 
ly mentioned, " to show that the discourse re- 
corded in the sixth chapter of .St. John does 
not Tdate directly to the Eucharist, and that 
any part of it can on'ly be indirectly applied 
thereto with propriety, I purposely omitted 
any reference to that institution, lest the reader 
should think that I intended to teach a direct 



BEY. DR. TURNER. 221 

relation of tlie one to the other." I referred, 
also, to tlie view of tliat Discourse, as given by 
"WMtby, Hammond, Waterland, Beveridge, 
and Cranmer, among tlie Cliurcli of England 
divines, witli tliat of Erasmus, of tlie Cliurcli of 
Rome." 
^ Tlie reviewer's next remark was as follows : 
"Our authorized version, in the margin, paral- 
lels with verse 52, Matthew 26 : 26, 28. We 
suppose that the authority of our translators 
ought not lightly to be set aside." I replied to 
this in full : "Our authorized version has been 
repeatedly published with parallel references, 
varying in different editions. It is a mere 
assumption to say that the authority of any 
such collation is equal to that o^ the transla- 
tion. The old editions, both of King James's 
Bible and of the translations that preceded it, 
contain very few references. It is the later 
editions which have multiplied them. If the 
question is tried by TertuUian's rule — id est 
verum quodcunque primum, id est adulterum 
quodcunque posterius — the remark about light' 
ly setting aside authority^ and the jparallels of 
our authorized version must be retracted. Let 
us look at the facts. 

" Crais'iher's Bible, 1539, has very few refer- 
ences, and on John 6, does not refer to Matt. 



222 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

26 : 26, 28. The Bishop's Bible, 1575, has 
very few, and none on John 6 : 52-67.- The 
GEJsiEVAisr, printed by Bobeii: Barker, in Lon- 
don, 1584, does not refer to the text in Mat- 
thew, but does to 1 Cor. 11 : 27, and so also 
Barker's New Testament of 1605. Beza's 
^English edition by L. Tomson,' and printed 
bv Barker in 1601, has no reference to Matt. 
26. King James's Bible of 1611, contains very 
few references in general ; on John 6, only fif- 
teen, and none to Matt. 26." I proceeded to 
refer to many other early authorities from 1613 
to 1671, and then asked what was meant by 
^Hlie parallels of our authorized version^ and 
the setting aside of tlie authority of our trans- 
lators? If the charge of setting aside author- 
ity could be alleged at all, it would be against 
those who refer to Matt. 26, and those who 
advocate the reference. But I waive the ad- 
vantage which the incautious remark has given 
me, as I do not admit the principle assumed. 
The references have not the same authority as 
the text. In all the editions the text is intend- 
ed to be the same, not so the references. And 
to what edition are we to go for the authorita- 
tive ones ? " * 

* These remarks have a very direct bearing on the controversy re- 
specting the standard Bible, which arose in connection with the action 
of the American Bible Society in 1857, and will be afterwards noted. 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 223 

The next remark in tlie notice is tHs : " To 
say nothing of Catholic antiquity." The incli- 
nation to censure on the same ground as that 
which was taken against certain portions of the 
Companion to Genesis^ appears in this short 
clause. I set it aside with that plainness which 
I thought the attempt deserved. " It is not at 
all uncommon to assume a consent of fathers 
in behalf of some favorite exposition, whereon 
some equally favorite dogma is thought to be 
sustained, and then to ring the changes of the 
favorite strain of an ideal catholicity. The 
term catholic, and its cognate expressions, have 
become with certain persons vague and indefi- 
nite epithets. "We hear of catholic architec- 
ture, catholic poetry, catholic music, catholic 
usages, most of which were confined to very 
limited localities, and originated in compara- 
tively late periods. I have no thought of de- 
nying a real catholicity on leading points. A 
catholicity in the great and fundamental doc- 
trines of the Gospel, and in the facts and in- 
stitutions which serve to develop and prove 
them, I not only admit, but delight to recog- 
nize and avow. But I must say, that the view 
of John 6 : 53-56, which explains it of the Eu- 
charist, is not supported by Catholic antiquity. 
To prove such authority an induction of many 



224: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

particulars is necessary. Quotations must be 
adduced and examined. A concurrent series of 
writers must be produced. An isolated allu- 
sion or clause, in one or two fathers, proves 
nothing. Tbe careful inquirer will ask, what 
is the evidence afforded by an examination of 
the whole ? and this implies an accurate com- 
parison of each with the other." The third part 
of the Essay on John 6, is then referred to for 
" the most important passages in Catholic anti- 
quity, as they are there given in the original 
Greek and Latin, and translated into English," 
on passages in that chapter, " which some mod- 
ems have understood as directly intended of 
the Eucharist." I went somewhat at large into 
that "interpretation of our Lord's discourse 
which makes it relate directly to the Euchar- 
ist," which I designated as a '^ private^ not 
CatholiG'''' exposition, and gave an account of 
the discussion which took place on this point 
at the Council of Trent, showing, from Palla- 
vicini, that that body did not venture to 
appeal to Catholic interpretation of this dis- 
course in reference to the Lord's Supper. This 
part of the communication I afterwards incor- 
porated in an Appendix to a second edition 
of the Essay, which was published in 1851. 
Knowing how deeply and extensively rooted 



REV. DR. TURNER. 225 

was the erroneous application of this discourse, 
and the unfounded supposition of its patristical 
explanation being sacramental, I availed myself 
of the occasion afforded to show the contrary. 
This I did at length, and with sufficiently full 
references. 

In the next paper the reviewer repeated the 
old assertions, and referred to ancient writers by 
name. I had accommodated to his unproved 
statements and intimations the words of Juve- 
nal — ''''Stat pro ratione^^ — dictum. To this he 
replies thus : " He must be a queer man, indeed, 
to pass off his dictum instead of reason and ar- 
gument, when the latter, in the shape of testi- 
monies from Ignatius, Irenseus, Tertullian,- Cle- 
mens Alexandrinus, Augustine, etc., etc., can 
be, as Professor Turner is well aware, so very 
cheaply obtained by any one who is ambitious 
to make a display of quotations." Few read- 
ers of this sentence could suppose that what 
the writer represents as not only susceptible of 
proof, but familiar to all well-read theolo- 
gians, is entirely unfounded, and without even 
a shadow of evidence. This I stated in the 
plainest terms. "I assure the writer that I 
was not aware that these testimonies could be 
obtained so cheaply. Indeed I know they can 
not be obtained at any price. The reader will 
10* 



226 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

bear in mind that the point at issue is the 
eucliaristic or sacramental interpretation of 
John 6, assumed to be given by those writers, 
not what they may say about the Eucharist. 
If the reviewer can so easily get reason and 
argument in the shape of testimonies to this 
effect from these Fathers, let him produce 
them, and thus entitle himself to the merit of 
the discovery. This is the very thiug I have 
called on him to do, and which I know he can 
not do ; and for this plain reason, tliat they are 
not to he found in these writers. I must there- 
fore say again, that instead of proof we have 
assertion." Here the controversy ended. 

On the third Sunday in Advent, December 
sixteenth, 1849, it became my turn to address 
the students on occasion of the matriculation 
of the Junior class. I selected a subject which 
was appropriate in general to my department 
of Interpretation, and also particularly adapted 
to meet certain vao:ue and undefined notions, 
of which what has just been quoted affords a 
specimen. I called attention to the sacred 
Scriptures as the sole rule of faith, founding 
my two discourses on the words of the 
Psalmist, "The entrance of thy word giveth 
light," (119 : 130.) One or two portions are 
selected to show the nature of the principle 



KEY. DR. TURNER. 227 

maintained and the plainness with wliicli I 
brouglit it out. 

" We return then to the query suggested by 
the affirmation of the text — where shall we 
jfind this word of God, the entrance of which 
giveth light ? A reply, sufficiently laconic, was 
once almost universally given to this question, 
namely, in the Church ; and it has been re- 
peated with and without exposition and limi- 
tation — -ask the Church. If this direction be 
intended, to imply that the Church is properly 
the fountain of Divine light, it is untrue, and 
contradicted by unequivocal statements in our 
own standards of faith, by frequent declara- 
tions of the earliest and best of the fathers. 
In this sense, the general direction to draw 
the truth from the Church, as its fountain, in- 
volves many particulars, each of which must 
be clearly settled before we can ever be pre- 
pared to apply it. What is the Church ? 
Who compose it ? What constitutes mem- 
bership ? What is necessary for legitimate 
initiation? Does the direction relate to the 
Church now ? or in certain past ages ? or 
in all its phases of existence ? As the al- 
leged source of religious light, has the Church 
always been invariably the same? and if so, 
has she the essential property of never teach- 



228 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ing error ? On what ground is such infallibil- 
ity predicated ? If of Scripture, where are the 
texts, and who is to expound them? If of 
reason, where is there even a show of evi- 
dence ? and who is to judge of it ? How is 
the assumption to be reconciled with the de- 
monstrable fact, that certain doctrines of one 
age have been maintained in contradiction to 
those of another — both classes being equally 
authoritative ? Does the Church speak through 
the whole mass of her members ? or through a 
majority? or through the faithful only? and 
if so, who is to discriminate these among the 
visible mass, and to select the wheat from 
among the tares? or is it through some one 
claiming to be universal head ? and who or 
what is he? and where are his credentials? 
Or again, is it through her ecclesiastical offi- 
cers? And are all of them the medium, or 
only a moiety ? If the latter, of what grade ? 
Or, if so groundless a claim be rejected, and 
it be admitted that, at various times and 
places, the instructions of the Church have 
varied, how are we to know when and where 
she has been right ? If her teaching should 
be thought to be equivocal or doubtful, who 
has the right and ability to interpret the 
interpreter? It is not to be expected that 



REV. DR. TURNER. 229 

vague or unproved statenients on these and 
other kindred theological topics will be blind- 
ly admitted by men of intelligence. They do 
but perpetuate controversy without eliciting 
truth. The Church, by which I mean the 
body of Christians that have lived, and do 
live, and shall continue to live on the earth, 
proclaiming the living word, and rightly ad- 
ministering and receiving the divinely insti- 
tuted sacraments, is no infallible source of the 
truth. It is indeed its ^ pillar and ground,' its 
firmly established support. It is its 'keeper 
and witness,' the consecrated ark overshadowed 
by the cherubim, preserving those tables of the 
divine law which ' were written by the finger 
of Grod.' This character of the Church sets her 
up as ' the standard for the nations,' and makes 
her publicly call them to flock to the banner 
of that mighty conqueror, whose ' rest shall be 
glorious.' It kindles, on the shore of the 
ever troubled sea of mistiness and doubt, ^hat 
lofty beacon-light, which, supplied with the 
holy oil of the sanctuary, shall never go out, 
but burn and flame and blaze in a celestial 
splendor, until its divine warmth and illumin- 
ation shall have dissipated error, and shall 
have animated and attracted to itself all the 
tempest-tossed and perishing. But the Church 



230 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

can only preserve, can only show forth^ illus- 
trate, impress divine truth. She can not ori- 
ginate one particle of that holy light, which 
owes its being to the Father of illumination, 
of whom alone it is the first-born offspring." 

As I could not comprise all that I wished 
to incorporate in the matriculation address 
within the limits of one discourse, on the 
afternoon of the same day I resumed the 
subject, examining the inquiry how God's 
word may enter into the heart and under- 
standing so as to give light. I laid down 
three leading directions, resolving them into 
the duty of prayer and dependence on the 
Author of divine illumination, the exercise 
of sound sense and good judgment, and the 
acquisition of a competent acquaintance with 
holy Scripture in the original. These points 
I endeavored to develop and impress. The 
discourses were published at the request of 
the^tudents, with notes appended. They are 
entitled: Light in the Church, God's Word, 
the Source of Divine Light, and how it may 
he most successfully studied. I have reason 
to think that its open development of import- 
ant Protestant truth, was not without dts use. 
Though it exposed, both in the discourses and 
notes, some favorite representations of not a 



EEV. DE. TURNEE. 231 

few, no attempt was made to overtlirow its 
statements or reasonings. 

During the spring and summer of 1851, I 
delivered in the Seminary Chapel seven dis- 
courses on Prophecy. The subjects treated 
of were, its divine origin, its increasing de- 
velopment and aertainty, the various ways 
in which it was communicated, prophetic vis- 
ion, prophetic simile and figure, and the qual- 
ifications of the interpreter. To these I added 
another on the blessing of Japhet, though it 
did not make a part of the series. These 
eight discourses I published at the request of 
the students, accompanying them with suitable 
notes. They make a 12mo volume of 219 
pages. 

In attending to the duties of my department 
I had found by experience that but few young 
men obtained any clear insight into the mean- 
ing of difficult texts by a mere reference to 
various commentators. Such a course frequent- 
ly produced confusion of mind, and moreover 
required more time than the Seminary arrange- 
ments allowed. It had therefore been my in- 
variable practice for many years to lecture on 
all the portions of Scripture which I intended 
to make the subject of recitation. The ma- 
terials for these lectures were written in an in- 



232 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 

terleaved ISTew Testament, the London edition 
of Griesbacli of 1818. I had frequently been 
requested by some of the more studious and 
intelligent members of the Seminary to pub- 
lish a Greek Testament with notes, so con- 
densed as not to exceed two volumes. I knew 
that this would not admit of such an exegesis 
as a careful examination of many portions 
would demand, in order to satisfy an intelli- 
gent and conscientious inquirer, and that the 
enterprise would result in a meagre and unsat- 
isfactory production. I therefore determined to 
select some of the most important portions of 
the 'New Testament, and to prepare an exposi- 
tion of them, without being limited in space, 
but guided by the nature of the subjects in- 
volved. I began with the Epistle to the He- 
brews, selecting this book, because the notes 
which I had already accumulated on it were 
considerable, and also because an exegetical in- 
vestigation of its various portions appeared to 
be particularly appropriate in the state of the 
Church at that time. I had been, for years, in 
the habit of directing the attention of the 
classes to the subject of quotations in the New 
Testament from the Old, not so much with 
reference to their verbal conformity either to 
the original Hebrew or the Septuagint Trans- 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 233 

lation, as to tliat of tlie thouglit and general 
purport. The notes on this point, whicli I had 
prepared for lecturing on the second chapter 
of St. Matthew, I incorporated with the Com- 
ment on Hebrews 1 : 5, because of their adapt- 
ation to this and other passages in the chapter. 
Had I begun with the Gospels, I should have 
much preferred introducing this matter in con- 
nection with the early part of St. Matthew. 
The volume was published in 1852, with the 
title, The Epistle to the Hebrews^ in Greeh and 
English^ with an Analysis and Exegetical Com- 
mentary, I afterwards added an Appendix, 
containing a series of questions on the entire 
book. The whole volume amounted to 200 
pages 8vo. 

The next year I published a similar volume 
of 252 pages on the Romans, with the Greek 
type much improved. I dedicated this volume 
to the memory of Bishop White, to whom, 
when living, I had addressed my first produc- 
tion on the same Epistle in 1824. The pub- 
lisher threw the dedication into the form of 
an urn. 

Early in the spring of 1856, I published a 
third volume of Commentary, namely, on the 
Ephesians, pages 198. This I dedicated to my 
friend, the Rev. Christian Frederic Cruse, D.D. 



234 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

In tlie autumn of tlie same year I added a 
small volume of 98 pages on the Galatians. 
My original intention was to unite these two 
in one volume ; but, after both were prepared 
for the press, I saw an announcement of Jow- 
ett's work on the latter Epistle, and deferred 
printing my own until I should have examined 
it. My present intention is to unite the Rom- 
ans and Galatians in one volume, on account 
of the connection of the main subject of each 
Epistle. 



KEY. DR. TUENEE. 235 



CHAPTEE XI. 

Plain-Song in tlxe Seminary — ^Mr. Hopkins — Pastoral Care of 
the Students — The American Bible Society— His Relation 
to it — The Standard Bible — The Fortieth Anniversary of his 
Professorship — Sketch of Dr. Wilson — General Review. 

I SHALL now proceed, briefly, to state three 
particulars, two of wMcL. bear on my connec- 
tion with the Seminary, and the other on that 
with the American Bible Society. 

At a meeting of the Trustees, held on June 
twenty-eight|| 1855, the following resolution 
was passed : 

^''ResoVoed^ That the Standing Committee be, 
and is hereby empowered, to provide for the 
students of the Seminary, instruction in vocal 
sacred music." ^ 

Under this resolution of the Board, the Eev. 
John Henry Hopkins, Jr., was appointed in- 
structor by the Standing Committee, and this 
was sanctioned by the Trustees at a subsequent 
meeting.f Mr. Hopkins entered on the duties 
of his office in November, and made a report 

* See Procedings, etc., June twenty-eighth, 1855, page 40. 

f See the Proceedings at the Triennial Meeting, September twenty- 
ninth, 1856, page 114. 



236 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

in June, 1856. The following year, June twen- 
ty-third, a second very brief report was sub- 
mitted, and some time afterwards the instruct- 
or resigned. 

In the early part of 1856 a difference of 
opinion arose in reference to the Chapel music. 
The lately appointed teacher, at the request, 
as I was informed, of a majority of the stu- 
dents, accepted the place of organist. In 
this capacity, and also in that of instructor, 
he introduced the kind of chanting which is 
known by the name of "plain song," to the 
exclusion, in a great degree, of the music be- 
fore in use. A very large proportion of the 
students was opposed to this no^^y. One of 
the consequences was, that the number who at- 
tended his instructions became much reduced, 
and not a few were unwilling to take part in 
a service so characterized. Ever since the 
regular morning and evening services of the 
Church had been used, in accordance with the 
direction of the Trustees, the mode of celebrat- 
ing them had, in all particulars, been under the 
control of the officiating professor; and, as 
the students had generally made such arrange- 
ments as were in nowise objectionable, and fre- 
quently highly commendable in point of musi- 
cal taste and religious feeling, the officiating 



REV. DR. TURNER. 237 

professors scarcely ever had any occasion to in- 
terfere with tlieir arrangements. Thus things 
went on harmoniously. The chanting of the 
Psalter, (introduced by Dr. Ogilby,) I had al- 
ways objected to, inasmuch as it was against 
the ordinary usage of our Church ; and, in my 
opinion, neither rubrical nor in character with 
the Institution, as a General Seminary, intend- 
ed for the whole Church. In this particular I 
stood alone, not objecting, however, to the ar- 
rangements of my brother professors, who, on 
their part, never objected to mine. 

On the introduction of the plain-song chant- 
ing by the Reverend Instrut^tor who had taken 
the place of organist, I addressed a note to him, 
claiming the right, as officiating professor, to 
control the music when it was my turn to read 
the service, and requesting, on such occasions, 
the omission of that style of chanting. To my 
great surprise, the musical instructor and organ- 
ist claimed this right himself, ex officio^ and de- 
clined acceding to my views. To his commu- 
nications I made one reply, which I supposed 
would be satisfactory and agreeable. His an- 
swer confirmed my previously formed determi- 
nation, and I refused to yield, in any degree, 
what I regarded both as my official right and 
duty. Mr. Hopkins therefore refused to act as 



238 • AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

organist on the days when I read the service. 
Consequently, some anti-plain- song student pre- 
sided at the organ on such occasions. This 
was qnite gratifying to me^ as I never thought 
" plain-song " either agreeable to a musical ear, 
or devotional in its impression. 

At a meeting of the Trustees, held in Trin- 
ity Church, October sixteenth, 1832, the office 
of Dean of the Faculty was instituted, each of 
the resident professors being directed to exer- 
cise its rights and attend to its duties annually 
in succession.* The first report was made by 
me June twenty-fifth, 1833; the second by Dr. 
Wilson June twenty-fifth, 1834 ; and the next, 
as recorded in the Proceedings of the Trustees, 
by Professor Whittingham, June twenty-fourth, 
1837.f Notice of this appointment appears 
also in the statutes published in 18 36. J The 
following amendment was passed in 1837 : 

" He shall, also, during the term of his office, 
be charged with the public religious instruc- 
tion and the pastoral care of the students."§ 

Next year the office devolved on me ; and in 
the report which, as Dean, I made to the Trus- 

* See Proceedings, ubi sup. page 367. 

f Ubi sup. pages 413, 462, 585, 586. 

J See chapter vi. section 2, pages 16, 17. 

§ Proceedings, pages 619, 626. 



KEV. DR. TUENEB. 239 

tees, I submitted to their consideration the fol- 
lowing remarks : 

The undersigned "has always regarded the 
pastoral care, even of an ordinary congregation, 
as comprising duties of great interest and im- 
portance, not to be undertaken without careful 
examination and conscientious conviction of 
duty. The pastoral care of a number of theo- 
logical students preparing for the ministry, he 
could not but consider as a charge still more 
solemn in its character, involving a responsibil- 
ity, than which scarcely any can be greater, and 
not to be imposed without the consent of the 
person sustaining the office of pastor. Still, 
it was the desire, of the Dean to meet the 
wishes of the Trustees as far as he consistently 
could, by giving to the students 'the public 
religious instruction' which the statute enjoins. 
It was at first his intention to meet the stu- 
dents in the Seminary Chapel on Sunday morn- 
ings for public worship and sermon. Such ser- 
vices had been performed there by Professor 
Wilson and himself during several years, be- 
fore the Chapel of St. Peter's was built. But a 
practical difficulty immediately suggested itself. 
Soon after entering the Seminary, almost all 
the students became connected with different 
churches in the city, both as members under 



240 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 

the rectors, wlio exercise towards them the 
same pastoral relation which they exercise to- 
wards the other members of their congrega- 
tions, and also as superintendents or teachers 
in the respective Sunday-schools belonging to 
the congregations of which they constitute a 
part. Was it expedient for the Dean to re- 
quire an attendance which would destroy this 
connection ? Was it the intention of the Trus- 
tees that he should do this, and call away the 
students from duties usefal to themselves and 
beneficial to others, and in which young men 
preparing for the ministry ought chiefly to be 
interested? A third service, after the fatigue 
of Sunday-school instruction during the day, 
appeared to him to be, in general, neither agree- 
able nor useful. Embarrassed by these consid- 
erations, and unable to discover by private con- 
versation with individual Trustees, that they 
had been in contemplation when the resolution 
was passed, he has not given ^public religious 
instruction,' neither has he considered himself 
as sustaining ^a pastoral relation' to the stu- 
dents."* The report of Dr. Haight, also a Dean, 
made June twenty-fifth, 1850, incorporated an 
account of my action as " chaplain" during the 

* Proceedings, ubi sup. pages 640, 641. 



KEY. DR. TURNER. . 241 

preceding year, witli a renewal of this state- 
ment, tliat I "could not consent, for reasons 
satisfactory to myself, to undertake the pastoral 
care of the students." 

In my report of June, 1855, I brought this 
point again before the Board, and insert there- 
from the following extracts : 

"With that part of the requisition before 
referred to, which intrusts ^ the whole pastoral 
care of the students' to the Dean, it becomes 
my duty to say that I have not complied. It 
is not my purpose, as it certainly would not be 
within my province, to enter at all into the 
question of the expediency (according to the 
usual analogy of the ecclesiastical regulations 
and action in our Church) of requiring a com- 
municant to change his pastoral -relations on 
becoming a member of the Seminary, or a pro- 
fessor to assume the obligations of a proper 
pastoral charge. It is certainly optional with 
the one to decline to enter the Seminary, and 
with the other to accept a professorship on 
such a condition. But the obligation of under- 
taking such condition, when superadded to the 
original terms, is quite a dijfferent consideration. 
The chief reason of my unwillingness to be re- 
garded as the students' pastor, I will state with 
that frankness which ought to characterize 
11 



242 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

every right-mindecl man, and wMcli a long con- 
nection with tlie Seminary may tlie rather jus- 
tify me in employing. The ordinary pastoral 
duties, those, namely, of religious service and 
instruction, of attention and consolation, also, in 
occasional sickness, I am quite willing in my 
turn to perform. But there is another duty 
incumbent on a pastor, which, if fully exercised 
in all cases, might bring a Dean into collision 
with some rectors, and, it may be. Standing 
Committees and Bishops. The pastor is ex- 
pected to recommend the candidate for Holy 
Orders as 'worthy to be admitted thereto.' 
(Canon XV. of 1832.) I can not pledge myself 
to do this for every student whose testimonial 
of having properly attended to the prescribed 
course of study I may be fully authorized to 
sign. On the contrary, it may happen that, as 
pastor, I should sometimes be obliged to dis- 
courage a student from taking upon him the 
ministerial office. This would not necessa- 
rily imply deficiency in his moral or religious 
character. It might be founded on an apparent 
want of other essential qualifications. And I 
do not hesitate to say that I am not stating a 
hypothetical case. But here a professor might 
readily fall into a mistake, as he can not be 
supposed to know a young man so thoroughly 



EEY. DE. TURNER. 243 

as tlie ^ minister of the parish,' who, for a 
course of years, has had him under his own in- 
spection and spiritual training. Still, the Semi- 
nary pastor must act on his own conviction of 
duty ; and this, as was before remarked, might < 
bring him into unpleasant conflict of opinion 
with some of his brethren. In stating this dif- 
ficulty, I have gone on the supposition that, 
by the phrase, ' the whole pastoral care of the 
students,' in the statute before referred to, the 
intention was to constitute the Dean their sole 
pastor J a meaning which seems to be the only 
legitimate one. 

" On the other hand, I not only grant, but 
am deeply impressed by the conviction, that for 
those students who have not been brought up 
in this city, and who consequently can enjoy 
no accustomed pastoral supervision during their 
Seminary course, it is all-important to provide, 
in connection with the Institution, a truly pas- 
toral head, who shall feel the duty and obliga- 
tion, and have also the right, untrammelled by 
any other pastoral authority, to train those 
committed to his charge, and, as his observa- 
tion and knowledge may dictate, to encourage 
them or not in their preparation for the minis- 
try. But I submit whether an annual change 



244 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

of the Pastor is likely to produce any efficient 
practical result."* 

The above remarks are here introduced in 
corroboration of the opinion before expressed. 
, 'No communication has ever been made by the 
Trustees to the Faculty on this subject, or 
interview held with them by any Committee 
appointed for such purpose. The Statute re- 
mains unaltered.f Whether the appointment 
of Dean as " Chaplain, intrusted with the 
whole pastoral care of the students," destroys 
all rights and obligations of a city Eector of 
whose congregation a student may have been a 
member from infancy ; or whether the Statute 
regards him as under the supervision of two 
pastors, who may or may not agree in recom- 
mending him for the ministry ; also, what influ- 
ence an official position is likely to have which 
is to be relinquished at the expiration of one 
year, then occupied by another professor, and 
at some future time reassumed by the former, 
it is not my intention to note. I will only add 
that, in accordance with the resolution of Dr. 
Wilson and myself, not to accede to the Sta- 
tute, I have always declined to sign the testi- 

* Proceedings, June twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, 1855, pp. 14, 15. 
f See Constitution and Statutes, published October, 1860, Chapter 6, 
Section 2, page 26. 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 245 

monials of students for admission into tlie Min- 
istry, referring them to tlieir respective Hec- 
tors; and also, in tlie cases of strangers, wlio 
always constitute a large majority, to those 
city pastors with whose congregations they be- 
came connected. 

The other matter before alluded to is so 
generally and extensively known, that I shall 
restrict myself to a very few remarks, some of 
which are rather of a private nature. 

The Church Heview^ (a quarterly publica- 
tion, issued at Xew-Haven,) of October, 1856, 
Volume IX., IS'o. 3, page 422, contained some 
strictures on the Standard Bible, which the 
Managers of the American Bible Society had 
lately issued with more than usual laudation. 
The Coiamittee on Versions, of which I was a 
member, to whose care its preparation had 
some years before been intrusted, had intro- 
duced some slight alterations in the spelling, 
particularly of two or three proper names, oc- 
casionally also as to capital letters, punctuation, 
and frequently in the headings at the tops of 
pages and over chapters. In the translation 
itself no change had been made, except the in- 
troduction of the definite article in connection 
with the name of John. A portion of those 
strictures seemed to me to have an unjust bear- 



246 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ing on the conduct of tlie Managers, and par- 
ticularly on that of the Committee on Versions. 
I therefore replied to it in the next number, 
pages 547-560. The subject of the alterations 
introduced in the Standard Bible soon became 
prominent in the ecclesiastical or religious pa- 
pers of various denominations. Some misap- 
prehensions, and also some misrepresentations, 
were published. In many English and some 
American editions of King James's Bible, mat- 
ter had been introduced at various times for 
two centuries, by individuals, and independent- 
ly of any civil or ecclesiastical authority. The 
most prominent of these publications, together 
with the original edition of the authorized 
translation, which made its appearance in 1611, 
had been very carefully examined by the Com- 
mittee. The members who were most promi- 
nent in carrying out this laborious undertaking 
were, Dr. Kobinson, Professor in the Union 
Theological Seminary, and Dr. Vermilye. Oc- 
casionally I attended the meetings, and I 
think the Rev. Dr. Storrs also. The Eev. Dr. 
McLane had been appointed to examine certain 
leading editions, and to state the various differ- 
ences, in order the better to prepare us for 
deciding on the particulars to be reported for 
action on the part of the Committee, at their 



REV. DR. TURNER. 247 

numerous meetings. In tliis position lie labor- 
ed witli most extraordinary industry and care, 
and presented the results of Ms efforts, witli 
conscientious fidelity to his trust, in thousands 
of various readings and methods accurately 
written out. Thus some of the various acces- 
sions, which in course of time had been ap- 
pended to the published version, and some also 
of those which had been added by the transla- 
tors themselves, were somewhat modified, radi- 
cally altered, or entirely removed ; and, I may 
well say, that in many cases a marked improve- 
ment was made, by the unanimous consent of 
the Committee on Versions. But this was often 
represented as a change of the version itself, 
which had been left unaltered. 

As some publications by the author of the 
original article in the Churcli Review^ and par- 
ticularly by certain prominent Presbyterian 
members of the Society, made their appear- 
ance, and became the more disseminated and 
known, the excitement increased very greatly. 
Not a few of the leading Managers took the 
ground, that the Constitution so connected the 
generally prevailing punctuation, parentheses, 
spelling, capitals, headings, and references, 
which were in common use when the Society 
was formed, with the text itself, as to compre- 



248 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 

hend both under the name of the Authorized 
English Version. Hence they inferred that the 
Society could not rightly give its sanction to 
any change in these particulars. Thus they 
avowed their purpose never to allow any thing 
to be admitted into their editions which had 
not been published half a century before, and 
to stereotype in jperjpetuuyn headings and other 
accessory matters which tended naturally to 
perpetuate some erroneous notions in the mind 
of the ordinary reader. Almost all the mem- 
bers of the Committee on Versions maintained 
the opposite principle, namely, that the Con- 
stitution simply prohibited any change of the 
text Yet even this involved an examination 
of the question, — What, in no small number of 
places where the texts, of various old editions 
differed from each other, was the true original 
reading ? The object which the very distin- 
guished and judicious founders of the Society 
had in view was to perpetuate and extend the 
revealed Word of God, known by the name of 
THE Bible, and particularly what was kno^vn 
as the authorized English Vees'iok of King 
James. 

The discussions which arose at various full 
meetings of the Managers, the resolution which 
was passed to require the Committee to carry 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 249 

into effect the principle before stated, and there- 
by to prepare another standard edition to su- 
persede the former, and their refusal to permit 
a protest against certain resolutions passed at 
one of the meetings, (which protest was signed 
by six of the whole eight members of the 
Committee,) to be entered on the minutes of 
the meeting, led those members to resign their 
places. I was afterwards requested to accept a 
position in the new Committee about to be 
formed ; but as I had resigned simply because 
I could not conscientiously acquiesce in the ac- 
tion of the Managers, nor adopt the principle 
which their resolutions enjoined, I declined the 
offer. 

The numerous particulars connected with 
this complicated topic which, as the controver- 
sy advanced, became the more developed, tend- 
ed to show that the history of our highly vene- 
rated, and in very many respects most invalua- 
ble English Bible, was comparatively but little 
known. Many of the most prominent writers 
who expressed their opinion against the action 
of the Committee on Versions in preparing the 
afterwards rejected standard edition — splen- 
didly bound folio copies of which had been 
sent by the Managers, accompanied by the 
highest eulogies, to most of the crowned heads 
11* 



250 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

of Europe — were, in fact, wholly uninformed 
on the subject. Some took for granted that 
the version of 1611, in the exact form and 
position of the words, with the original ap- 
pendages, had been handed down through suc- 
cessive generations, unaltered for nearly two 
hundred and fifty years. In order to set the 
truth of this matter in a clear light, I prepared 
a private letter, which I sent to a Kight Eev. 
friend, whom I had known and highly esteemed 
for more than forty years, who had published a 
short article in one of our Church papers. I 
did not choose to enter into any public con- 
troversy on the much disputed, though little 
understood point, but availed myself of the 
opportunity to point out the generally pre- 
vailing mistakes, and to develop the truth by 
an induction in detail of incontrovertible state- 
ments. 

Respecting the changes which had been 
made, and especially those in the headings, I 
publicly avowed to the Board of Managers 
that I would not undertake to defend the 
whole. Every member of such a committee 
could not be expected to have examined indi- 
vidually each one. I did not at all hesitate to 
acknowledge that many alterations might prop- 
erly, and indeed ought to be made. And I 



EEV. DE. TURNER. ' 251 

Lave no doubt tliat if the whole matter had 
been again intrusted to the same Committee, 
with directions to reexamine and improve the 
standard edition, the result would have given 
much more general, though not universal, sat- 
isfaction than will be the consequence of acting 
on the principle laid down by the Board. In 
that case I would have devoted myself to so 
important a work without passing over a single 
point unexamined. In the hope that some im- 
provement with regard to headings might be 
introduced, I drew up a good many alterations, 
suggesting what appeared to me more appro- 
priate than any in ordinary use. Those of 
Isaiah I revised with great care. In examiniog 
the Oxford quarto edition of 1852, I found 
several places at variance with the edition of 
1611, and a comparison with those of the re- 
jected standard evidently showed the great su- 
periority of the latter in many respects, a good 
many of the others being not only unsupport- 
ed by the text, but inconsistent with its plain 
meaning. But these manuscripts I set aside. 
Nevertheless, as the principle of providential 
action is progress, the time ^vill come, sooner 
or later, when this whole matter must be re- 
vised and improved. 

On June twenty- third, 1858, I addressed a 



252 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

note to tie Alumni of the Seminary, stating 
the time of my " appointment to a professor- 
ship," and inviting them to be present on the 
occasion of the fortieth anniversary of that 
appointment, v^hen it was my intention to de- 
liver an Address in St. Peter's Church. I re- 
ceived a very kind and affectionate reply, sign- 
ed by their recording Secretary, the Rev. Mor- 
gan Dix, accepting the invitation. 

On the night of the eighth of October, after 
the usual evening service and the delivery of 
the anniversary address,* I had the happiness 
of meeting many of my Kev. brethren, some of 
them my old pupils between thirty and forty 
years before, now well known as useful pas- 
tors, and several maintaining distinguished po- 
sitions in the Church. Of the Bishops who 
had been students in the Seminary, the Right 
Rev. Drs. Whitehouse and Horatio Potter 
were present. The gratification was very 
greatly increased by an incident, to me entire- 
ly unexpected. Just before partaking of the 
evening collation, Bishop Whitehouse, who 
had graduated in 1824, addressed me in be- 
half of the Alumni, presenting me with a 

* Three thousand copies of the Address were afterwards printed by 
the direction of the Alumni, and one thousand put into my hands for 
distribution, chiefly to future students. 



EEV. DK. TURNER. 253 

paper commemorative of the fortieth anniver- 
sary of my appointment as professor, and kind- 
ly expressive of their regard. It w^as signed 
by a large number then present, and after- 
wards by several others, who were then living 
at a distance from the city. The paper was 
beautifully drawn up by the Kev. John Henry 
Hopkins, Jr., and ornamented with six draw- 
ings, illustrative of Scriptural facts bearing 
upon the period of forty days or years. From 
more than fifty pnpils, living in various States, 
and some quite remote, I received very friendly 
letters, which, among others, some of earlier 
and some of later date, I hope to retain in pos- 
session until the end of life. I could not but 
feel that the complimentary remarks of the 
Right Rev. graduate of thirty-six years' stand- 
ing were beyond my desert, and it was not 
without difficulty that I could command my 
feelings so as to make a suitable reply. The 
document presented by the Alumni I have 
preserved with great care, and shall ever re- 
gard this occasion as' among the most interest- 
ing of my life. 

About six months after the event just re- 
corded, another occurred of a very different 
kind. My old friend and brother, the Rev. 
Dr. Wilson, whose health had been for a con- 



254 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

sideraUe time gradually declining, departed 
this life on the fourteenth of April, 1859, in 
his eighty -third year. The funeral ser\dces 
were performed in St. Peter's Church, of which 
he had been a constant attendant ever since its 
origin. His interment took place in the burial- 
ground of Christ Church, in Philadelphia, at 
the corner of Arch and Fifth streets, in the 
presence of a large body of the most respect- 
able clergy and laymen.- At the request of 
his niece, whom I had known from her child- 
hood, in which also the clergy had united, 
at a meeting held immediately after the ser- 
vice at St. Peter's, I delivered there, on the 
eighth of May, a sermon in commemoration of 
the life and character of the deceased. It was 
published at the joint request of the clergy of 
New- York, and of the Faculty and Trustees 
of the Seminary. After some remarks on the 
doctrine of the resurrection, a topic which was 
adapted to the occasion, and particularly in 
accordance with the ecclesiastical time of the 
year, I gave a short sketch of Dr. Wilson's 
life and character. As this very able and ex- 
cellent man, formerly a lawyer and judge, 
and afterwards a -divine, always remarkable 
for retired habits and true Christian humil- 
ity, was probably not much known in New- 



REV. DR. TURNER. 255 

York, I shall here introduce a page or two of 
the discourse, with references in support of the 
statements therein made. 

''It is not my purpose to go into detail, but 
merely to state some prominent facts."^ 

"The Rev. Bird Wilson was the son of a 
gentleman of Scotland, who was born in 1742. 
The Hon. James Wilson was educated at Glas- 
gow, St. Andrew's, and Edinburgh, and in part 

* " The brief notice of Dr. Wilson's father was obtained chiefly from 
the following publications : ' Encyclopedia Americana,' Article — James 
Wilson. — ' Alexander Graydon's Memoirs of his Own Time,' edited 
by John Stockton Littell. 8vo. Phila. : Lindsay and Blakiston, 1846. — 
' History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution 
of the United States,' by George Ticknor Curtis. Bvo, 2 vols. Har- 
per and Brothers, N.Y., 1854. In this work, Judge Wilson is very fa- 
vorably mentioned. The following extracts will show how highly he 
was appreciated : ' The life of this wise, able, and excellent man, was 
comparatively short. The character of his mind, and the sources of 
his influence, will be best appreciated by examining some of the more 
striking passages of his great speech on the Constitution.' This is fol- 
lowed by a note, covering fourteen closely printed pages, all of which 
is quoted from the speech referred to ; vol. i. page 462, et seq. In vol. 
ii. page 520, he is represented as ' one of the wisest and ablest of the 
framers of the Constitution. 

" For the few biographical statements respecting his son, I am in- 
debted chiefly to private information, obtained from the most reliable 
sources. For the reader's satisfaction, I will mention the names of the 
Hon. Horace Binney, and the Rev. Jehu C. Clay, D.D., who for a time 
was rector of the Church at Norristown while Dr. Wilson was one of its 
wardens, and also that of Miss Hollingsworth, the Doctor's niece, who 
resided with him the greater part of the time that he lived in New- 
York. The kindness of these gentlemen and this most estimable lady 
in replying to my request for information, is hereby respectfully 
acknowledged. 



256 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Tinder the supervision of Drs. Blair and Rob- 
ertson, men universally celebrated for supeiior 
talent and learning. Soon after Ms arrival at 
Philadelphia, in the year 1766, he became a 
tutor in the College, and acquired a high repu- 
tation as a classical scholar. Entering on legal 
practice, first at Reading, and affcervrard at Car- 
lisle, his abilities and acquisitions soon made 
him conspicuous. In 1775 he was elected a 
member of Congress. Being a uniform advo- 
cate of American independence, he signed the 
well-know^n Declaration. In 1'787 he was a 
member of the Convention w^hich framed the 
Constitution of the United States, and one of 
the Committee that reported the draft. Two 
years after he was appointed by Washington a 
Judge of the Supreme Court. He died at the 
age of fifty- six, leaving behind him three vol- 
umes of political and legal disquisitions, highly 
valued by intelligent men. 

" The son inherited his father's talent, and in 
due time made himself equally conspicuous. 
Born January eighth, 1111, he graduated at 
the University of Pennsylvania, then known 
by the name of College, at the early age of 
fifteen, in the year 1Y92, about the time that 
the Rev. Dr. Ewing became Provost. He pur- 
sued the study of law, under the direction of 



EEV. DK. TUENER. 257 

Joseph Thomas, of PMladelpLia, aided, no 
doubt, by the abilities of bis father. His early 
companions and friends were gentlemen who 
afterward attained a grade of eminence in their 
profession which few jurists in this country 
have ever reached."^ Of Mr. Wilson it is not 
too much to say, accommodating the words of 
the Apostle, that he was ^not a whit behind 
the very chief of his associates. In the exer- 
cise of his profession he was remarkable for 
the soundness of his counsels, founded on ex- 
tensive knowledge of general principles and 
careful attention to the particular cases under 
consideration. He soon obtained a place in 
the office of the Commissioner of Bankrupt 
Law, and when a young man of only twenty- 
five, was appointed ^ President Judge ' of the 
Court of Common Pleas, in a judicial district 
composed of several of the eastern counties of 
Pennsylvania, and known as the Seventh Cir- 
cuit. His residence was then at ISTorristown, 
where he was held in high respect and esteem 
for his virtues as a Christian man, and his integ- 
rity, uprightness and ability, as presiding offi- 
cer of the Judiciary Department. In this hon- 

* "Among the distinguished persons alluded to, it is sufficient to 
mention the names of Mr. Horace Binney, Messrs. Chauncey, and Mr. 
John Sergeant. 



258 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

orable position it was Ms habit thoroughly to 
examine all accessible data bearing on slbj liti- 
gated matter in question. Keeping in mind all 
the points of evidence, great and small, on 
both sides, he weighed them in the balance of 
equity with the utmost scrupulousness, drew 
his conclusions with most logical accuracy, and 
formed his judgment with the most conscien- 
tious carefulness. Indeed Judge Wilson was 
so distinguished for the soundness of his deci- 
sions, that only one was ever reversed in a su- 
perior court, and that simply because he had 
not access to a document which contained such 
information on the case as, if known, would 
have modified his view. 

' "In the year 1813 the President Judge pub- 
lished Matthew Bacon's Abridgment of the 
Law, an English work, with considerable addi- 
tions by a Barrister.* The American editor 
informs his readers that his object was Ho in- 
corporate into' his publication Hhe substance 
of the English decisions ' which had been pass- 

* " The title of this publication is as follows : A New Abridgment 
of the Law. By Matthew Bacon, of the Middle Temple, Esq. With 
considerable additions, by Henry Gwillim, of the Middle Temple, Esq., 
Barrister at Law. The first American, from the sixth Loudon Edition ; 
with the addition of the later English and the American Decisions. By 
Bird Wilson, Esq., President of the Court of Common Pleas in the 
Seventh Circuit of Pennsylvania. In seven volumes. Philadelphia: 
PubUshed by Philip H. Nicklin. 1813. 



EEV. DK. TUKNER. 259 

ed since tlie appearance of tlie last London edi- 
tion, together with tlie cases upon tlie same 
subjects decided in America.' The preparation 
of this work, which is in seven volumes, large 
octavo, demanded great labor and research ; and 
the additions are characterized by the editor's 
extensive investigations and well known accu- 
racy. 

"During the time that Judge Wilson re- 
sided at Norristown, he so employed his moral 
and religious energies, as to induce the few 
Episcopalians of the place to erect the church 
which stands there at the present day. Of this 
church he was warden for several years, and 
a delegate to the Conventions of the diocese. 

" His deeply religious character led him, on 
an official occasion, when his kindly feelings 
were more than usually wrought upon, to turn 
his attention very decidedly to the sacred office 
of the ministry, and on the twelfth of March, 
1819, he was ordained Deacon, by the Right 
Rev. Bishop White, in Christ Church, Phila- 
delphia, and Priest about a year afterwards." 
In a few years, the lately ordained Judge be- 
came a Professor in the General Seminary, 
where he continued to give instruction in Sys- 
tematic Divinity until June twenty-fifth, 1850. 

Since the year 1853 I had been accustomed 



260 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

to send certain articles to the Parish Visitor^ 
in compliance witli tlie request of tlie Editor. 
They consisted . chiefly of expositions of some 
of onr Lord's instructions, selected from the 
first three Gospels. Thinking that, if collected 
together, and somewhat improved by a few 
alterations and additions, a volume might be 
constructed, which would be useful to thought- 
ful readers of the New Testament, and particu- 
larly to all Sunday-school teachers, and also to 
the more religious and intelligent of their pu- 
pils, I published, towards the close of the year 
1859, a volume of two hundred and fifty-eight 
pages, entitled, Teachings of the Master, with 
* an attempt to explain and enforce them. By 
a Disciple. It contains twenty-five Essays, be- 
ginning with John's announcement of the 
Kingdom of Heaven, and ending with his 
Lord's reply to the Sadducees in defense of the 
doctrine of the resurrection. The wood-cut 
which precedes the title-page was copied from 
a very beautiful picture, which some of Dr. 
Muhlenberg's affectionate pupils had presented 
to him, as a memorial of their esteem and high 
appreciation of his worth. The celebrated 
Hiibner, by whom it had been painted, was 
informed by the Rev. owner, that he regarded 
it as the most lovely and perfect symbol of 



EEV. DE. TURKER. 261 

Protestantism tliat lie had ever seen. Tlie gift- 
ed artist expressed his great gratification by 
replying that, to produce a proper symbol of 
that religious system which regards the sacred 
Scriptures as the sole rule of faith, was the 
very motive by which he had been governed. 

In the hope that this volume might be made 
useful, in accordance with its author's inten- 
tions, I had it i]| contemplation to publish a 
second, on selections from St. John's Gospel. 
I therefore prepared two Essays, explanatory 
of the Saviour's address to Nathanael, in 1 : 48- 
51, and of his statement to the unbelieving 
Jews, in 2 : 19, with the accompanying remarks. 
These were introduced in the same monthly^ 
periodical. After devoting a good deal of time 
and attention to our Lord's conversation with 
Mcodemus, I found that the Essay on this all- 
important ^Teaching of the Master,' compre- 
hending, as it necessarily must, an examination 
of several controverted theological points, and 
also of other scriptural instructions connected 
therewith, would not be well adapted to the 
character of this practical paper. For this 
reason, and also because the former Essays con- 
tinued for more than two years to be but little 
known or used by those for whom they had 
been especially prepared, the intention was 



262 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

abandoned. The Essay is finished, and I have 
had it on hand for some time, and shall per- 
haps publish it, if there be any probability of 
the necessary expense being paid. 

The Parallel References, before mentioned, 
became so scarce in the course of ten years, 
that they could not be procured for the use of 
students. I therefore determined to prepare a 
second edition. As the particular bearing of 
the texts referred to was not always sufficiently 
obvious, I resolved to add such brief remarks 
as might be expedient, omitting any notice of 
portions which seemed of themselves sufficient- 
ly plain to any careful and intelligent reader. 
As I proceeded in this undertaking, I found it 
best to go somewhat more into detail. In less 
than a year a little book of two hundred and 
twenty- one pages was printed, the illustrations 
being limited to the Gospels and Acts. I dedi- 
cated it to the Alumni, and recommended its 
use to scriptural readers in general, and partic- 
ularly to such as can not go beyond the English 
language. Since the appearance of this volume 
I have prepared similar notes, but somewhat 
fuller, on the Epistles to the Romans and Co- 
rinthians. Believing, as I do, that the most 
effectual way to acquire a right understanding 
of the New Testament is to examine it by the 



RET. DR. TURNER. 263 

aid of parallel references, and tlitis make it ex- 
planatory of itself, I shall continue, as time and 
ability may allow, to prepare similar exposi- 
tions of other leading epistles, in the hope 
that the time may come when Both clergy and 
laity will, by this truly Protestant course, en- 
deavor to teach revealed truth, and to engraft 
it, both in the minds and hearts of their young- 
er brethren and children. 

The last book, to the arrangement of which 
I devoted considerable time, made its appear- 
ance towards the close of 1860. It is simply 
the Gospels, in the form of the Harmony, 
which originated in the third century. In the 
Greek it had been before published , but never, 
so far as I know, in any modern language. It 
is called, The Gospels, according to the Ammo- 
nian Sections and the Tables of JEusehius. It 
consists of ten different parts. The first com- 
prehends those portions which are common to 
the whole four. The second, third, and fourth 
contain corresponding selections from three : 
namely, Matthew, Mark, and Luke ; Matthew, 
Luke, and John; and Matthew, Mark, and 
John. The ^y^ following are limited to those 
statements which occur in two only ; Matthew 
and Luke, Matthew and Mark, Matthew and 
John, Luke and Mark, and Luke and John. 



264 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 

The tentli presents to the reader what is pecu- 
liar to each. 

I have now brought down the particulars of 
my life, which may be supposed to be of any 
interest to my family and friends, to the sum- 
mer of 1861, which finds me rather a feeble 
old man, in his seventy-second year, who can 
not reasonably expect to continue much longer 
in this world. May God, of his infinite mercy, 
prepare me for a better one, and when he shall 
be pleased to take me hence, may he receive 
me into his everlasting kingdom of glory, 
through the merits of my only trust and source 
of hope, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of 
sinners. I have had trials to be borne, some 
deep and permanent, but I have also had bless- 
ings without number to be thankful for. It is 
now nearly forty-three years since I became 
connected with the General Theological Sem- 
inary. I have not unfrequently felt that I 
was doing but little practical good in this po- 
sition, and have regretted that I did not devote 
my life to the ministerial duties of a parish. 
At other times I have been much encouraged to 
believe that my efforts to instil revealed truth, 
into the minds of young men, who were to go 
out into the world to preach the Gospel, have 
been useful. This feeling has been strengthen- 



REV. DR. TURNER. 265 

ed by witnessing on several occasions an in- 
creased attention to tlie truths of God's word, 
and an earnest endeavor to acquire clear views 
of tliem ; by often receiving letters from young 
clergymen, expressive of tbeir sense of tbe 
deep importance and practical utility of the 
study of the Bible as here recommended and 
pursued; and by witnessing the active exer- 
tions in the Lord's vineyard of many former 
pupils. Matters have, indeed, occasionally 
arisen which were very grating to my feelings ; 
but these have been more than counterbal- 
anced by expressions of kindness and respect 
on the part of students, which I could not have 
anticipated, and which I certainly feel that I 
had no right to claim. I will mention one 
which stands out prominently. After conclud- 
ing my lectures to the Senior Class in 1855, as 
was my usual practice, with a few collects and 
the benediction, I was requested by one of the 
members to remain a few moments. On re- 
suming my seat, he addressed me in the name 
of the class, which consisted of fifteen; and 
after expressing their regard in unmerited 
terms of thankfulness for instruction, he dis- 
played to view a silver flagon, presented by 
them to the Chapel of the Seminary, in order 
to complete its set of communion vessels. It 
12 



266 AUTOBIOGKAPHT OF 

was beautifully finislied, witli an inscription 
around the rim at the bottom to this effect, 
that it was presented by the Senior Class of 
1855 to the Chapel of the Seminary, and as a 
token of regard for me. At the same time he 
handed me a letter, to which each member of 
the class had affixed his name, expressive of the 
feelings which prompted the act. The whole 
matter was altogether unexpected, and I could 
not reply at the moment in a manner at all ad- 
equate to my sense of their kindness. In my 
written answer I reciprocated it, with the hope 
that the great Head of the Church would ac- 
company the ministerial efforts of each with his 
presence and blessing. The occasion was to 
me one of the most interesting and agreeable 
which ever took place during my connection 
with the Seminary. 



REV. DR. TURNER. 267 



CHAPTER Xn. 

EDITORIAL COITCLTJSIOIS". 

Death — Funeral — Bishop Potter's Address — Notices of the Press 
— Resolutions of various Committees, etc. 

The preceding record of certain events with 
wliicli the life of the Rev. Dr. Turner is asso- 
ciated will, of it^lf, be insufficient to convey a 
just idea of his character. The active, earnest 
Christian, the diligent and thorough scholar, 
the profound theologian, the ardent lover of 
truth, and its unflinching advocate through 
evil as well as good report, may stand out with 
more or less distinctness on these pages; hut 
the whole man, as he was seen by his intimate 
friends and in his family, is very imperfectly 
presented. This could hardly have been other- 
wise, where the object of the author was so 
limited, and where a man so characterized by 
unconsciousness of self, was recording facts 
that pertained to his own history. A memoir 
from the hand of some friend, who knew him 
well and thoroughly appreciated his character, 
would contain much that could not be expect- 
ed from his own pen, which would be both 
interesting and valuable to the reader. En- 



268 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

dowed with quick and lively sensibilities, lie 
experienced and imparted great pleasure in 
congenial society. All his domestic qualities 
were of the most attractive and endearing char- 
acter. 'He combined, in a rare degree, mascu- 
line strength and womanly tenderness, a pure 
and highly refined taste, with simple, unosten- 
tatious habits. His ever ready sympathies led 
him to go "about doing good," wherever he 
could relieve distress "in m^d, body, or es- 
tate." This is seen in his deep interest in the 
Foreign Missionary work of our Church, and 
in his active labors in its behalf, in his zeal in 
preaching the Gospel wherever he spent his 
summer vacations, and in the personal atten- 
tion and practical relief which he bestowed so 
liberally on the poor in the neighborhood of 
his residence in New- York. He was cordial in, 
and much " given to hospitality," and firm and 
steadfast in his friendships. With a vivid and 
just appreciation of the beauties of nature and 
art, he joined a passionate love of music. The 
indulgence of this taste was almost the only 
recreation he allowed himself during his severe 
labors and studies. 

To this partial " record of a good man's life," 
the addition of what would be necessary to 
present a complete view of his character and 



REV. DR. TURNER. 269 

labors would be out of place. Tbe design of 
tlie narrative vrill be carried out, by appending 
a few facts, and some of tlie obituary notices 
and resolutions, wliicli appeared in tbe Churcli 
press soon after his death. His labors, some of 
which, he has sketched in this volume, vrere 
brought to a close a short time after the last 
page was v^ritten. He had returned from his 
usual summer retreat among the Green Moun- 
tains of Vermont, invigorated by its bracing 
air, and refreshed by that communion with the 
beautiful and sublime in nature which he so 
ardently loved and thoroughly enjoyed. One 
term of the Seminary year had passed in the 
pleasant discharge of his accustomed duties, 
and he was looking forward with satisfaction 
to the relaxation afforded by the Christmas re- 
cess, when the Master called him to the enjoy- 
ment of that eternal " rest which remaineth for 
the people of God." The high spirit which 
ever yielded unwillingly to the requirements 
of bodily infirmity, had been too exacting in 
its daily demands upon his nervous powers 
and strength, to leave much vital force in 
reserve for the struggle with disease. One 
week sufficed to " loose the silver cord ; " but 
so gently was this done, that it seemed to 
be unmarked by himself, and almost by those 



270 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

around him. Tlie mind, clear and unclouded, 
retained its supremacy on his bed of languish- 
ing. Its last energies were employed in giving 
directions, wMcLl proved to be final, to those 
whose advancement in piety and learning was 
the cherished object of so large a portion of 
his valuable life, and soon after he peacefully 
fell asleep in Jesus. 



I. 

From the Christian Times. 
The Rev. Samuel H. Turner, D.D. 

"We take up our pen with a profound consciousness 
of our inability, by a brief and necessarily hurried 
notice, to do justice to the life, character, and labors 
of our distinguished brother. 

The theological student and youthful friend of "the 
father of the Aruerican Church," his ministerial career 
stretching across a period of more than half a centu- 
ry, and nearly all of it indissolubly identified with the 
leading -historical features of our Church, his official 
life alone would be a record too voluminous for these 
columns. And still, these very circumstances, as well 
as our personal affection for him as a tried Christian 
friend, demand more at our hands than an ordinary 
passing notice. A labored eulogy is not our purpose. 
It would not accord with his tastes, nor with the sin- 
gular humility and absence of ostentation which 
marked his Christian course ; but it is due to his exalt- 



EEV. DR. TURNER. 271 

ed Christian character, and to the important position 
which he occupied so long, and filled with such honor 
to himself, that more than the bare mention of his de- 
parture should be recorded in these columns, which 
have been so often enriched by his gifted pen. 

After reciting the outlines of Ms history 
down to 1836, the article continues : 

It would be unsuitable lo a notice like this, to fol- 
low up, with any thing like detail, the history of our 
revered and beloved friend beyond this point. It 
would involve the secret^ and therefore the real history 
of the Institution with which he has been so honora- 
bly identified for forty-three years. It would, how- 
ever, be an act of injustice to his memory and charac- 
ter, as well as to the cause of truth, if we failed to re- 
cord the fact, that amidst the unlawful claims of offi- 
cial prerogative, the inroads of superstition and error, 
and even the harsh persecution of a bitter party press, 
he has commanded the respect of all, while he has re- 
mained unmoved and immovable in his principles, the 
same unflinching Protestant, fixed in hi^ adherence to 
truth, the same Christian gentleman, calm and^ dis- 
passionate in his position, because he knew that he 
stood upon a rock, and that the truth of God would, 
in the end, prove mightier than the craft, or malice, 
or power of man. For his unswerving fidelity to her 
principles, our Church owes him a debt of gratitude, 
of whose magnitude she will never be fully conscious. 

Peculiarly qualified by mental constitution and ear- 
ly habits, for the work to which the providence of 



272 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

God assigned him, lie prosecuted it to tlie very last 
week of his protracted life, with unflagging zeal and 
patient industry. Largely endowed with common- 
sense; blessed with quick perceptions, a retentive 
memory, a spirit imbued with profound reverence for 
the inspired word ; and uniting in a rare and happy 
combination a proper regard for human authority 
with independence of judgment, his numerous publi- 
cations are not only a towering monument of his vast 
attainments in learning, but they present a mine of 
Scriptural truth, in which the Christian scholar may 
safely delve without any fear of its exhaustion, or of 
being led astray. 

He was never idle. From the organization of the 
American Bible Society, he has been one of its warm- 
est friends and most steadfast supporters ; and he has 
evinced his interest in the Institution by the most un- 
wearied labors in its behalf. 

The same may be said of his interest in the Foreign 
Missionary operations of our Church, and of the value 
of his counsels in the Committee which is charged 
with the direction of the work. In addition to the 
numerous volumes which he has published, many of 
his valuable contributions to the cause of Biblical 
learning, and upon other kindred topics, have appear- 
ed anonymously, from time to time, in the religious 
quarterlies and magazines of the country. 

For years, each number of the Parish Vmtor has 
contained a column or more from his fertile and versa- 
tile pen, and the aggregate of his contributions to the 
Protestant Churchman would fill volumes. 

Several modern and most of the ancient languages 



EEV. DE. TUENER. 273 

in existence were familiar to him. Perhaps no man 
in this country or England combined such varied and 
extensive learning with such thoroughness and accu- 
racy. We had hoped that the providence of God 
would spare him to place the results of his learning 
and labors in such a form that they might be available, 
to the Church. 

In connection with all this, he was not indifferent 
to general literature, nor an idle observer of the prog- 
ress of the world in the arts and sciences. He had a 
keen and just perception and appreciation of what- 
ever was beautiful in nature or art, in poetry and 
music. He was especially warm, genial, and confid- 
ing in his friendships. We shall ever esteem it as 
one of the greatest privileges of our life, that for 
twelve years we have been permitted to know him, 
to love him, and enjoy his confidence. As great as 
is his loss to the Institution which he has so long 
adorned ; to the cause of truth, which he has so long 
vindicated and upheld ; to the committees and socie- 
ties which have so long enjoyed the wisdom of his 
counsels ; and to the cause of Biblical learning, upon 
which he has for so many years shed such a continued 
lustre ; the loss to his family and the circle of his in- 
timate friends is even greater. So strong, mutual, 
and constant were their sympathies, that in separating 
from him, they seem to have lost a part of themselves. 

They who have known and loved him must mourn 
over their loss; but their sorrow is tempered with 
joy, when the hand of faith lifts the veil from the un- 
seen world, and the eye of faith gazes, enraptured, on 
the revealed glories of which he is a partaker. 
12* 



274 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Blessed spirit! be lias "fouglit a good figbt;" his 
warfare is past, bis race ended; he "rests from his 
labors" in those bright "mansions" where no linger- 
ing breath of the earthly tempest can ruffle the still 
waters of his eternal peace, or mar one note of praise, 
or dim one ray of light and love, as it shines, clear 
and unclouded, from the face of the manifested God. 



11. 

From the Church Journal, 
The Reverend Doctor Turner. 

There is not one of the hundreds of the Alumni 
of the General Theological Seminary who will not 
learn with grief of the departure of the Eev. Dr. Turn- 
er. On the second Sunday in Advent he preached 
his last sermon, in St. Peter's Church, on "the last 
Judgment." During that week he was apparently 
in his usual health, and on Saturday afternoon said 
Evening Prayer in the Seminary Chapel; complain- 
ing of the coldness of the room, however, though the 
day was exceedingly mild. The coldness was the pre- 
liminary symptom of the disease which seized upon 
him during the night, and with several severe chills 
developed itself at last into typhoid fever. This gain- 
ed daily upon his remaining strength, until, with little 
pain or apparent suffering, he departed in peace last 
Saturday evening, between six and seven o'clock. 

Dr. Turner's name has been a household word with 
nearly all the active clergy of the Church, and from a 



BEV. DE. TUKNER. 275 

time as far back as they can remember. The chair 
which he has filled — that of Biblical Learning and the 
Interpretation of Scripture — in the Greneral Theologi- 
cal Seminary, has been occupied by him ever since 
the founding of the Institution. He has helped to 
train for the work of the sacred ministry a much 
larger number of persons than any other, whether 
bishop, clergyman, or layman, in the Church of Amer- 
ica. And fully conscious of the greatness of the re- 
sponsibility thus confided to him, no one has more 
conscientiously and industriously labored, day and 
night, to qualify himself for good service as a guide 
to the ministry in studying the unfathomable depth 
of God's word. This indefatigable labor he kept up 
through the whole of a professorship lasting nearly 
half a century ; and down to the last week of a life 
prolonged beyond the ordinary span of threescore 
years and ten. With great natural strength and 
quickness of mind, he had so thoroughly imbued him- 
self with the essential spirit of his own department — 
he had so cultivated the analytical and critical facul- 
ty in every thing connected with the interpretation of 
Holy Scripture — that the average result may be stated 
as that of soberness and general consent guarded on 
every side by common-sense, and fortified by a deep 
and various learning which left no source of informa- 
tion or illustration unexplored. Nor was his mind less 
characterized by keenness than by strength. Kone 
of his pupils will ever forget the relish with which he 
impaled the extravagance of some luckless commenta- 
tor, ancient or modern, on the keen lance of his wit, 
and held up the wild enthusiastic vagaries of ignor- 



276 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ance or fanaticism to the ridicule of the recitation- 
room. He has left many monuments of his learning, 
also, in the large and important volumes he has added 
from time to time to our treasures of Biblical learn- 
ing. Nothing proceeded from his pen that was not 
devoted directly and chiefly to the elucidation and 
true understanding of Holy Scripture ; and with pa- 
tient courage and devotion he went on with volume 
after volume, though the demand for works which im- 
bedded so much of the dead languages in their pages 
was never sufl&cient to reimburse him for the outlay of 
publication, to say nothing of any profits from the 
sale. During the greater part of his long and labo- 
rious career, moreover, the Institution, with which he 
has been so honorably identified since its establish- 
ment, has been able to offer him but a very meagre 
support ; and this year, the last of his veteran service, 
there was little prospect of his receiving any thing. 
It has been mainly through his own private means 
that he has supported himself while devoting the 
labors of a lifetime to the Church. 

But aside from the strength and learning which 
were so admirably apparent in the class-room, there 
was another great quality which is not always found 
in combination with these. It was an exquisite ten- 
derness and affectionateness of disposition, which ren- 
dered him acutely sensible to pleasure or to pain. 
Never have we known a man in advanced years more 
easily touched by the sight of another's sorrow, more 
easily melted into kindness at the tale of another's dis- 
tress, more freely generous in supplying the necessi- 
ties of those who were in want. Many of the clergy 



REV. DR. TURNER. 277 

now serving in the vineyard can tell of acts of quick 
and open-handed liberality which they experienced at 
his hand, when struggling with early poverty in their 
efforts to qualify themselves for their high and holy 
calling — acts which will endear him to them as long 
as memory holds her seat. 

Bnt he has at length gone to his rest. The intimate 
personal friend of Bishop "White ; bearing the stamp 
of the earlier generation of American Churchmen in 
many things ; long the colleague of the departed Dr. 
Wilson, and the yet surviving Dr. Moore, in an Insti- 
tution which they all loved and served, but which he 
was the first to join and the last to leave ; his depar- 
ture removes one of the oldest of the landmarks from 
among us ; and of all those, his sons in the Gospel, 
who stand about his grave to-day, and of all who hear 
of it at a distance too great to permit their presence in 
the body, there is not one that will not grieve over a 
father and a friend ; they will grieve, not that he has 
gone home to receive his reward, but that they, on 
earth, shall see his face no more. 



ni. 

From the Church Journal. 

" The funeral of the Eev. Dr. Turner spoke deeply 
of the mingled affection and reverence with which he 
was regarded by all who had passed under his training 
hand. The nave of St. Peter's was nearly filled with 
a congregation mainly made up of Alumni of the Sem- 
inary, other clergy and students. The day was Christ- 



278 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OP 

mas Eve, and wlien it is remembered how pressing are 
the calls of every parish at such a time on the care 
and attention of the clergy, it was no slight tribute to 
see so many of them gathered together, and not a few 
were those who had come from a distance on purpose 
to be present. The proc'ession entered the church, led 
by the Bishop of New- York, the Faculty of the Sem- 
inary, and the Kector of St. Peter's Church." 

The services were conducted by Professors 
Jolinson and Mahan and the Rector of St. 
Peter's Chnrch, and the following address was 
delivered by the Bishop : 

" How strangely the lights and shadows of this our 
mortal life are intermingled I "We find ourselves to- 
day in the midst of the holy place already decorated 
with its festive green — with its symbols of joy and im- 
mortality ; but we come in the train of death, in the 
character of mourners. We suspend the preparatioTa 
for our Christmas song, that we may perform the fune- 
ral rites over the mortal remains of our departed bro- 
ther. 

'' And yet all is well ! To us the loss is great. 
But this is a death in which there is no gloom. The 
good and faithful man, who has gone from us, had 
passed the threescore years and ten. His ministry 
had very nearly reached to the half of a century. His 
labors, in the great duty to which he had dedicated his 
life, had been extended beyond the usual term of ac- 
tive service for one generation. He had lived to hear 
again the Advent call : ' J^ow it is high time to awake 
out of sleep ; for .now is our salvation nearer than 



REY. DR. TURNER. 279 

when we believed.' * The night is far spent, the day 
is at hand.' He had preached in yonder familiar 
Chapel (the place that had known him so long, but 
shall know him no more) his earnest, tender Advent 
sermon — the Lord's coming to 'sit as a Eefiner and 
Purifier of silver.' He had introduced another band 
of youthful pupils into the study of the holy Gospels. 
He had led them far on their way. He remained long 
enough to see the East beginning to glow with the light 
of the coming Nativity; and then gently, quickly, 
almost as it were by stealth, he departed to be with 
Christ ; not staying to celebrate his birth here again 
amid the infirmities of the flesh and the shadows of 
this lower world — ^not waiting to gaze once more with 
the dim eye of faith upon the far-off manger of Beth- 
lehem, but exalted suddenly to the blessed privilege 
of being delivered from the burden of the flesh, that 
he might be forever ' in joy and felicity with God.' 

"It is not often that we are allowed to stand at a 
closing scene so full of all that can give a Christian 
content. It is not often that we have the privilege of 
looking back upon a life which has been so singularly 
favored with opportunities of usefulness, and in which 
those opportunities have been so faithfully and so 
largely improved. Forty-three j^ears ago our departed 
friend began to be employed in giving instruction to 
candidates for the sacred ministry, and from that dis- 
tant day to the present time his name has been con- 
spicuously associated with theological education in the 
Church in this country. His pupils are numerously 
dispersed through every diocese of the Union ; and I 
think I may confidently affirm that there is not one 



280 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

among them all wlio does not look back to his kind, 
paternal care with gratitude, to his character as a 
Christian gentleman, scholar, and teacher with affec- 
tion and reverence. If you wish to see his monuments, 
look around at the ministry of the Church in this 
country. If you wish to listen to his eulogy, go visit 
any one of the four or five hundred of Christian pas- 
tors whom he has assisted in preparing for the Office 
and Work of a Priest in the Church of God, and you 
will hear him pronounce with deep feeling, that the 
days passed by him in the General Theological Semi- 
nary were among the pleasantest and most profitable 
of his life, and that no small share of the pleasure and 
profit of those days was due to the faithful and pleas- 
ant instruction, to the kind bearing, the judicious ad- 
vice, the bright sunny character of the Professor of 
Biblical Learning and Interpretation of Scripture. 

'' It is now a little more than thirty -five years since 
I came to this city, almost a stranger, glowing with 
youthful ardor in the pursuit of knowledge, full of the 
hopes and fears with which every young man of any 
reflection must look forward to the work of the sacred 
ministry, and presented myself first to the Eev. Dr. 
Turner, to be examined and admitted into the Semi- 
nary. The impression of his kindness, of the cheer- 
ful courtesy and benignity of his manner, can never 
be effaced frona my heart. At that early day I was 
privileged to see him frequently in his own house — a 
house not yet darkened by sorrow — a house brighten- 
ed by the presence of one whose person and manners 
shed a grace and a charm over every thing about her. 
Through all the changeful years that have passed 



REV. DR. TURNER. 281 

since that period, tliat cheerful, Christian home has 
been a solace and a refreshment to many a youthful 
student when weary, lonely, and discouraged. It has 
been to many a young man an image of what a Christ- 
ian home should be, and may be, and at the same 
time it has warmed the heart to a more fervent love 
of the beauty of holiness. It is not for me to attempt 
to give utterance to the feelings of his Pupils now 
present. They have lost a Friend, a Father, a beloved 
Teacher, all in one. They will cherish the memory of 
his virtues, of his earnest, affectionate faithfulness ; 
and they will endeavor to show themselves worthy to 
have been his pupils by striving to be followers to- 
gether of him, and to walk so as they have him for 
an ensample. To speak in detail of the learning and 
the labors of our departed Brother, of his published 
writings, of the influence of his life on theological edu- 
cation in this country, and of his usefulness in other 
departments of Christian enterprise, would be unsuit- 
ed to the solemnities of this hour, as it would be to 
undertake a task altogether too great for the opportu- 
nities afforded by this unexpected summons. 

"ISTor, my brethren, is there any need that I enlarge 
upon the lesson to be read in this event. ' Let me 
die the death of the righteous, and let my last end 
be like his.' Let my last look backward over the 
life rest upon a record as pure, as blameless, as fall of 
the beauty of holiness, as full of trust in the blessed 
Redeemer, and as useful as did his. 'Blessed are 
the dead who die in the Lord. Even so saith the 
Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and their works 
do follow them.' We need not repme nor grieve 



282 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

that he rests in peace, that he has been delivered from 
the burden of the flesh, that he has been ' taken away 
from the evil to come,' that he has been advanced to 
the companionship of the blessed, that he is ever in 
joy and felicity with God. Look, my brethren, upon 
that'cof&n, and you shall see there such a promise of 
peace and blessedness as you can not see out amid the 
fiery passions and huge convulsions of the world. May 
that peace and that blessedness be ours in the hour of 
death, in the day of judgment, and through all the 
life that comes after the judgment." 

On Christmas afternoon the remains, accompanied 
by the family and the Rev. Professor Johnson, were 
conveyed to New-Haven, where they were received by 
the Rev. Dr. Harwood, and borne to Trinity Church, 
in which they remained all night long. The next 
morning the journey to Cheshire, Connecticut, was 
resumed, where a company of clergy and friends re- 
ceived the body, and it was laid to rest beside the 
grave of his departed wife, who preceded him many 
years, but whose name, even to the last, he could 
never mention without tears. 

After the funeral, on Christmas Eve, a meeting of 
the clergy present was held, presided over by the Bish- 
op, of which the following is the official record : 

St. Peter's Church, New-York, December 24, 1861. 

The Clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
the Diocese of ISTew-York, in attendance at the funeral 
of the Rev. Samuel H. Turner, D.D., Professor of 
Biblical Learning and of the Interpretation of Scrip- 
ture in the General Theological Seminary, met after 
the service this day in St. Peter's Church. 



REV. DK. TUENER. 283 

The Eight Eev. Horatio Potter, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L., 

Bishop of the Diocese, was called to the Chair, and the 
Rev. Thomas M. Peters was appointed Secretary. 

On motion of the Rev. Dr. McYickar, it was 

Resolved^ That the Chair be requested to appoint a 
Committee of five, who shall prepare and publish, in 
the minutes of the proceedings, resolutions expressive 
of the sense of this meeting respectiDg the decease of 
the Rev. Dr. Turner. 

The Chair appointed as their Committee, the Rev. 
Thomas H. Taylor, D.D., Rev. John McYickar, D.D., 
Rev. William E. Eigenbrodt, D.D., Rev. Alexander H. 
Yinton, D.D., Rev. Robert S. Howland. 

The resolutions are as follows : 

Hesolvedy That in the death of the Rev. Samuel 
Hulbeart Turner, D.D., Professor of Biblical Learning 
and the Interpretation of Scripture in the General 
Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in the United States of America, we mourn 
the loss of a brother of the most endearing qualities, 
and of an eminent servant of the Most High God, 
whose pure character and rare learning had long ex- 
erted a wide influence for the highest and best ends. 

Resolved, That we recognize it as a cause for grate- 
ful praise to God, that in his wise goodness he should 
have blessed his Church, through so many years of 
time, with the bright example of a minister of his 
Word so beautifully fitted for the delicate and import- 
ant duties with which he was charged. 

Resolved, That, while standing around his breathless 
remains, we will implore the Divine grace to enable us 



284 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 

to emulate the virtues by wliicli Lis character was en- 
riched, and which still seem to shed their gentle, ge- 
nial, and improving influence around us. Let us im- 
plore the Divine grace to enable us to be pure as he 
was pure, always loving, gentle, beneficent, and true ; 
always meeting the ever-recurring calls of duty with 
promptness, punctuality, and cheerfulness, and never 
coming behind time in answer to the cry for instruc- 
tion from the ignorant, for counsel from the young, 
and for comfort from the miserable. May we be ena- 
bled to give ourselves diligently, as he throughout his 
long life gave himself devoutly, " to the reading of 
the Holy Scriptures, and to such studies as help to a 
knowledge of the same;" and may we always, in 
meekness and single-hearted love of the truth, conse- 
crate, as he did, the best fruits of our laborious learn- 
ing to the cause of righteousness and charity in the 
world. While, like him, we hold fast with unwaver- 
ing steadiness and consistency to our own enlightened 
convictions of what is right and true, yet in opposing 
the opinions of others, may we, like the learned man 
whose loss we deplore, "let our moderation be known 
nnto all men." 

Like him may we always cherish the great truth of 
" Jesus Christ and him crucified," as being, above all 
things else, near and dear to our hearts ; and may we, 
like him, strive to show forth the constraining power 
of this our faith, by our weariless works of love^ even 
unto our life's end. 

Resolved^ That a copy of these resolutions be sent to 
the family of the Eev. Dr. Turner, with the assurance 
of the sympathy of this meeting in their bereavement. 



REV. DR. TURNER. 285 

On motion of the Eev. Dr. Eigenbrodt, it was 

Resolved^ That the Rev. Samuel R. Johnson, D.D., 
Professor of Systematic Divinity in the General Theo- 
logical Seminary, be requested to prepare a discourse 
commemorative of the Rev. Dr. Turner, and to deliver 
the same at such time and place as the Faculty may 
determine. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of this meeting be re- 
quested to give the clergy notice of such arrangement 
as the Faculty may make for the occasion. 

The meeting then adjourned. 

T. M. Peters, Secretary. 

Appropriate resolutions were also passed by 
the "Vestry of St. Peter's Church," by the 
Alumni Association of the Seminary, by the 
Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion 
of E-eligion and Learning, and by other bodies, 
which, are not inserted in the following record : 

The Faculty of the Seminary. 

At a special meeting of the Faculty of the General 
Theological Seminary, December twenty-third, 1861, 
on occasion of the lamented decease, after a brief ill- 
ness, of the Rev. Samuel H. Turner, D.D., the late 
venerable Professor of Biblical Learning and the In- 
terpretation of Scripture, and Dean of the Faculty, it 
was, on motion, 

Resolved, That, in the departure of our reverend 
and beloved colleague in the fullness of his age a,nd 



286 • AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 

wisdom and iiiibleniislied pietj, we deplore the loss to 
the Clmrcli of one of her ripest scholars and most de- 
voted sons, at a time when his unimpaired vigor of 
mind promised still many years of efficient service ; 
that the Seminary, in particular, sustains a loss^ diffi- 
cult to be repaired, in one whose long, and faithful, 
and disinterested service of forty-three years has been 
distinguished by a thorough mastery of the rich and 
varied learning of hfs department, by instructions 
which have borne fruit in the life and doctrine of 
many of our most able clergy, by solid contributions 
to the stores of sacred literature, by unswerving loy- 
alty to the cause of truth, and by a soundness of judg- 
ment in the discharge of his official duties, with a 
kindness, charity, courtesy, and sprightly and ge- 
nial humor, which have endeared his memory to all 
who have been brought into contact with him ; that 
the Faculty lament the loss of a colleague, brother, 
friend, and father, beloved for his guileless goodness 
of heart, revered for his pure and undefiled religion ; 
that, in memory of all this, with humble submission 
to the Divine will, and with hearty thanks to God for 
the good example affi)rded in the life of our departed 
brother, we tender our cordial sympathy to his be- 
reaved family. 



The Standing Committee of the Seminary. 

At a meeting of the Standing Committee of the 
General Theological Seminary, convened in the chapel 
of the Seminary on Tuesday, December twenty-fourth, 



REV. DR. TURNER. 287 

A.D. 1861, upon tlie death of the Senior Professor, the 
Kev. Samuel H. Turner, D.D., the following resolu- 
tions were unanimously passed : 

Resolved^ That the Standing Committee of the Gen- 
eral Theological Seminary, in the name and on the 
behalf of the Board of Trustees, do hereby express 
their deep sense of the loss sustained by them and by 
the Seminary in the removal by death of the venera- 
ble and Eev. Samuel Hulbeart Turner, D.D., Professor 
of Biblical Learning and the Interpretation of Scrip- 
ture, and, for the current academical year, Dean of 
the Faculty and Chaplain of the Seminary. 

Hesolvedj That the long and faithful services of Pro- 
fessor Turner, both in government and instruction, 
during the life-long period of more than forty-three 
years, demand from the Trustees the strongest expres- 
sion of regret and reverence, and the acknowledgment 
that his removal at the present time, even at the ad- 
vanced age of seventy -two years, is felt by them as 
a severe blow to the Institution over which they 
preside. 

Resolved^ That the Trustees do now look back in 
thankfulness to the great Head of the Church that 
this distinguished Biblical scholar and teacher was so 
long spared to academic duties, alike learned and 
laborious, and in age pursued by him through many 
years of feeble health with a perseverance and self- 
denial of repose which nothing but the untiring zeal 
of a Christian spirit in the duties of his station could 
have supported him under. 

Besolved^ That in memory of one whose name has 
been from its foundation identified with the Seminary, 



288 AUTOBIOGRAPHY Or 

its earliest and oldest professor, it be recommended to 
the Trustees that a suitable marble tablet expressing 
the same be placed on the walls of the Seminary 
chapel. 

Resolved^ That a copy of the above resolutions be 
addressed by the Secretary of this meeting to the fam- 
ily of Professor Turner, with the expression of the 
deep sympathy of the Trustees; and that, further, 
copies be furnished to the several Church papers for 
insertion, with a view to bring the same to the know- 
ledge of absent Trustees, and to the Church generally 
throughout our country. 

Attest. "W. Walton, Secretary 'pro tern. 



The Foreign Committee. 

Extract from Minutes of a Special Meeting of the 
Foreign Committee, held on the twenty-fourth of De- 
cember, 1861 : 

Whereas, Our Heavenly Father has been pleased, 
in His wisdom, to take away from us, by death, our 
revered friend and senior member of this Committee, 
the late Kev. Samuel H. Turner, D.D. ; therefore. 

Resolved, 1. That while, with the other members of 
our Church; we deplore the great loss which is com- 
mon to us all, we are nevertheless truly grateful to 
our Heavenly Father that the Church was permitted 
to enjoy so long, in the person of our deceased friend, 
the admirable example of kindness, sincerity, and up- 
rightness which distinguished him as a man ; of earn- 



REV. DR. TURNER. 289 

estness, spirituality, devotion, and faith, which char- 
acterized him as a Christian ; and of fidelity to the 
truth of Christ which marked his whole career as a 
theological teacher. We are grateful that he lived so 
long as to witness the large benefits of his labors, in 
the character and success of many who, through a 
term of more than forty years, had passed from his 
faithful training into the ministry of the Gospel, and 
who were ever ready to call him blessed ; and that at 
last, when his piety had grown constantly with his 
years, and with his faculties undimmed, and his use- 
fulness unabated, he was gathered to his fathers "like 
a shock of corn, fully ripe." 

2. That we mourn for our departed friend specially, 
as a member of this Committee; who exhibited, always 
the truest zeal for the Missionary work, whose coun- 
sels were always wise, his measures discreet, and his 
policy just and clear. We lament him as one who 
habitually presided over our deliberations, and in 
whose right-mindedness and impartiality we could 
always confide, and whose dignified simplicity made 
him revered as well as beloved. 

3. That as the only demonstration we can now 
make of our reverence for his memory, this Commit- 
tee will proceed as a body to attend the funeral of our 
deceased friend and fellow- member. 

4. That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the 
family of the late Dr. Turner, with the expression of 
our joint and earnest sympathy. 

Copy from Eecord. 

S. D. Denison, 

Secretary and General Agent, 
December 28th, 1861. 

13 



290 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

The Students of the Seminary. 

At a meeting of the Students of tlie General Theo- 
logical Seminary, held December thirtieth, 1861, the 
following preamble and resolutions were adopted : 

Whereas^ It hath pleased Almighty God to re 
move our. beloved and honored Professor of Biblical 
Learning and Interpretation of Scripture, the Eev. 
Samuel H. Turner, D.D., from the scene of his earth- 
ly labors to the glory of his eternal reward : 

Resolved^ That in his death we are bereft of an able, 
faithful, and conscientious guide in the path of Sacred 
Learning, and do mourn the sad vacancy now caused 
in the department which he so long and so ably filled. 

Resolved^ That while acknowledging and bowing in 
due submission to God's providence in this peculiar 
affliction, we are consoled and cheered by the memory 
of his long and meritorious labors in the promotion ol 
Biblical Learning, by his uniform consistency and 
exemplary conduct as a minister of God, by his emi- 
nent and valuable services as a teacher of Theological 
truth, and by the comfortable assurance that he has 
made a blessed exchange from time to eternity. 

Resolved^ That we sympathize deeply with the 
Church in this removal of one of her most distin- 
guished members, with our city and country for the 
loss of a true and faithful son of the Eepublic, with 
the Seminary for the loss of its oldest and earliest 
Professor, his name being identified with its very ori- 
gin, and with the bereaved family who have so long 
been cheered by his' presence, strengthened by his 
counsels, and encouraged by his example. 



REV. DE. TURNER. 291 

Resolved^ That a copy of these resolutions be pre- 
sented to the family of our honored and lamented 
Professor, feeling that in their loss we also have lost 
a friend and a father. 

Resolved^ That, in testimony of our profound re- 
gard for the person and character of the deceased, we 
wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. 

Resolved^ That a copy of these resolutions be com- 
municated to the leading Church papers. 

G. A. Weeks, ] 

0. W. Whitaker, y Committee. 
H. H. Cole, j 



The American Bible Society. 

At the stated meeting of the Board of Managers of 
the American Bible Society, held January second, the 
Hon. Luther Bradish, Yice-President, presiding, the 
Rev. Dr. Brigham announced the decease, since the 
previous meeting, of the Rev. Samuel H. Turner, 
D.D., who for a long itime had been a Life-Director of 
the Society, and a member of its Committee on Ver- 
sions ; whereupon it was 

Resolved^ That a Special Committee be appointed to 
prepare a suitable record of the event. 

The Chair appointed the Hon. Walter Lowrie, and 
the Rev. Lot Jones, D.D., who, before the close of the 
meeting, submitted the following preamble and resolu- 
tions, which were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas^ In the dispensation of Divine Provi- 
dence, the Rev. Samuel H. Turner, D.D., has been re- 



292 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. DR. TURNER. 

moved by death, the Board of Managers of the Amer 
ican Bible Society desire to place on record- its appre- 
ciation of his character and services ; therefore, 

Resolved^ 1st, That in all his relations to the Ameri- 
can Bible Society, especially in his services for many 
years as an efficient member of the Committee on 
Versions, the deceased, by his uniform and consistent 
course, won the confidence and secured the esteem 
and love of all with whom he was thus called to 
associate. 

2d. That this Board cordially sympathize with the 
family of the deceased, in the great loss it has sustain- 
ed in the death of one so deservedly beloved and 
revered. 

8d. That the foregoing preamble and resolutions be 
entered on the record of the Board of Managers, and 
a copy thereof be transmitted to the fanaily of the 
deceased. 

(From the Minutes.) 

Caleb T. Eowe, 

Recording Secretary. 



fr 



